Return of Naruto Hatake
by Agent-G
Summary: Well here it is, the sequel to my Naruto Hatake story be sure to read that first or you'll just be lost. The continuing adventures of Naruto, adopted son of Kakashi. Various pairings inside mainly Naruto/Hinata, Anko/Kakashi.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any character in this story and I make no profit from it.**

**AN: Just as a reminder I struggle with proper spelling and grammar so I do my best, but I always seem to make mistakes. If you want perfection then you might not like my stories, if you skip this and comment on it anyway I get to make fun of you for doing it ;P. Also this won't be as long as the last story at least I don't plan on it.**

**Recap for those that might need it:**

Naruto Hatake: Adopted by Kakashi Hatake at birth so his family name is Hatake in this universe. He's starting on his wind chakra but only has two partially perfected techniques, wind armour and wind blade. Also carries the white chakra sword of his adopted grandfather. Currently dating Hinata, and wears a mask and black and orange clothing. And told his friends about the Kyuubi and true parentage.

Kakashi: Pretty much the same only learned a few things by being a parent and is currently dating Anko

Sakura: carries around tonfas and learned a few water jutsus and genjutsu from training with Anko/Kurenai/Hinata for the third part of the Chunin Exams for a month.

Sasuke: Carries a sword but even though he's been given the curse seal, he is not letting it get to him in his world.

Third Hokage still alive but very injured in his battle with Orochimaru who still has the use of his arms.

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 1: A New Adventure**

If there was one thing that Naruto hated about being in the hospital it was how boring it was, no wait, second thing. The first thing was that they didn't serve ramen that was the worst thing. He was still being held for the injuries and chakra exhaustion from the Sound/Sand invasion, although personally he felt fine. At least his dad managed to get him a replacement mask; it felt weird not having one.

Plus he got a feeling the nurses were giggling at how 'cute' the whisker marks on his face were. He felt a bit embarrassed about that, only Hinata could say that to him. He sighed as she went back to staring at the ceiling. Hinata wouldn't come in with his daily ramen that he asked to bring for another few hours. He loved that she came every day and that she brought ramen with her as well. It was the most he had to look forward to, sure his dad visited, Anko, Gai, his friends and others but Hinata made him feel a lot better.

But there was one thing that was nagging him and that was Gaara. He had been placed here under guard while he healed up with his brother and sister. When Gaara was ready to be released they would let the Suna team go. After it was known that Orochimaru killed Suna's Kage and impersonated him, Suna was pretty outraged that they had been played for fools. It helped to solidify their alliance again, although there were still some hard feelings on both sides, as Kakashi had told Naruto. But it looked like Suna was an ally again with stronger ties, nothing like a mutual enemy to bring people together.

But Naruto really wanted to talk with Gaara, this was the first time that Naruto had met someone like himself. He had only learned of the truth this year, about the demon inside of him, about him being adopted and who his birth parents had been. That was still something to get used to, they might have given birth to him, but Kakashi would always be his dad. He had been there for him growing up, teaching him, helping him, and playing with him as a kid and all sorts of things.

But Gaara was different, the boy seemed to be filled with so much anger and hate and Naruto wanted to know why. He also wanted to show that there was more to life, Naruto might have been luckier than Gaara but he refused to believe that Gaara was lost to his darkness. Naruto wanted to help because if things had only been a bit different, he could have ended up just like Gaara. Helping Gaara was just something Naruto felt he had to, because if anyone was going to help a jinchuriki then it should be another jinchuriki.

'_Well if I stay here then I might miss the chance to really talk with him,'_ Naruto thought to himself. The room was empty and he had an idea where Gaara's room might be. He grinned under his mask as he slipped out of bed. He quietly opened the window and looked outside. He didn't think that there would be anyone watching the hospital but you could never know. With what happened there might be some patrols out and seeing someone on the side of a building in the dead of night was suspicious no matter how you looked at it.

Well it wasn't like he didn't have any experience with this, he was the one that painted the Hokage mountain without anyone seeing him until the morning. With a quick scan he was already out the window and using chakra to stick to the side of the wall he starting looking through all the windows. He started with his floor and so far there wasn't any sign of Gaara. There were plenty of others though. He moved to the next floor, it wasn't until he got to the fifth room that he saw Gaara in his bed looking up at the ceiling.

'_Man doesn't this guy ever sleep? Might explain why his eyes are so dark around the skin.' _He mused as he figured he might as well go in.

Gaara had was used to staying up, it helped to prevent the voice in his head. Although for the moment the demon within was a bit more silent than usual. It might be due to the fact that he was totally drained after that fight. His demon was most likely 'sleeping it off' and would return eventually. But he had another reason for keeping awake. That fight with the boy, Naruto, he kept going through it in his mind. He had thought the boy had shown his true self in their fight, having drawing on his true power of the demon.

During that fight Gaara had lost, he should have died as well. Naruto had him in his hands, literally, but then something changed. It was that girl, the small one with the short hair. She had done something, something he couldn't fathom and somehow Naruto had forced the demon back inside. But that wasn't the end to it all, the girl had shown genuine feelings for Naruto. Despite showing what he was to the world, even the boy's teammates had even shown to be happy about him.

All that caring for Naruto and Gaara just couldn't wrap his mind on why they seemed to care so much for that boy. A jinchuriki was a lonely life, filled with pain and suffering and yet Naruto seemed to have more than that. For the first time as far back as he could remember, Gaara felt doubt about his way of life. People had been trying to kill him or were afraid of him for so long he couldn't remember a life without any of that in there.

He wanted to talk to the boy and to understand why they were so different.

Apparently the boy also felt the same as he noticed Naruto looking in through the window. For a brief moment he thought that Naruto was here to finish him off, after all, that was something Gaara would have done. But he sensed no killing intent from the other boy so he relaxed but kept his guard up. Although it wasn't like he had much chance of doing much, Gaara could hardly move his body at the moment anyway.

Naruto slowly came into the room and looked around, they were alone which was nice he really didn't want anyone interrupting them. Besides this was something for just them, looking at the boy he could see all the bandages covering Gaara's body. Although from experience it most likely looked worse than it was at least he hoped so.

"So...how are you doing?" Naruto really wasn't good with opening lines and he kind of wished that he could have at least came up with something while on his search.

Gaara just stared at Naruto and it really wasn't helping Naruto try to think of what to say next.

"So...uh...I guess we have some things to talk about?" Naruto asked hopefully.

Gaara only blinked at him and Naruto was starting to think this might have been a bad idea after all.

"Why?" Gaara asked simply.

"Oh well you know we're kind of the same and all." Naruto shrugged thankful that Gaara was starting this off with something simple.

"We are not, you are different than me." Gaara looked at the blonde boy, he just couldn't get why the other boy was trying to be friendly. "Why are you not hated? Why do you have others in your life that don't fear you and what was that girl's power?"

"What girl?" Naruto asked as he wasn't sure what he was getting at with that question.

"The one with short dark hair, the one that made you control the demon. What did she do to be able to control it? I can't figure out what she did." Gaara explained to him.

It took a moment before Naruto got what he was talking about. He grinned as he scratched the back of his head. "Ah, that's Hinata-chan and well she doesn't have any special powers like that, but she is special. She's always been special to me but lately she's a bit more special." He chuckled.

"I don't understand."

Naruto didn't really need to think about it much when it came to Hinata. "Well she's by very first friend, she's my best friend and lately she's my girlfriend. We've been together for years and we've always been there for the other." Naruto frowned a bit when he remember her calling out to him that day. Seeing the tears in her eyes at what he was doing made him feel horrible. He could still remember the day her mother had died and her crying out her pain filled heart that day he found her.

"Something...bad happened to her once. She lost her mother and she was crying and I found her. I never wanted to see her cry again to see her in pain like that again but I caused her pain in our fight. I made her cry and I don't want to do that again."

"How could you have caused her pain? You never attacked her," Gaara asked as he didn't remember Naruto harming her.

"She was in pain because of what I was doing to myself," Naruto said mournfully. "She doesn't want to see me in pain either."

Gaara tried to comprehend what that had to be like, to have someone care for you so much that they hurt when you hurt. He had been so very alone his entire life, he had filled that hole in his heart by trying to love only himself. Because for someone like him, there was no one else that would love him, that would care if he lived or died. To kill to prove his own existence even if it was just for himself was the only life he knew.

But here before him, this idiotic boy was just like him and yet he had found a way to have so much more in life. For the first time in his life, Gaara felt envious of someone else.

"Why do you have so many that care for you?" Gaara asked as the question was burning him up inside to know the answer.

"Well it wasn't easy," Naruto told him. "I didn't have any friends until Hinata-chan, and then I met others and became friends with them. My dad helped out a lot too since I can remember a lot of adults looking after me when he was away."

"I don't have anyone." Gaara told him and he was surprised by the aching pain he felt in his chest at saying the words.

"What about your brother and sister?" Naruto asked.

"What about them?"

Naruto couldn't believe that he had said that. "Oh come on! I would love to have siblings, I'm an only child but I would have loved to have had an older brother or sister growing up. Hell, I'd like to have a younger one too like Hinata-chan has with Hanabi. You got two older siblings and don't you think they feel anything towards you?"

Gaara hadn't really felt much of anything to his two siblings for a very long time. He had been kept separate from them for a very long time and by the time they were put on a team together, they weren't much better than strangers. Plus they were always afraid of him, he could see it in their eyes their fear of him killing them one day.

Gaara looked at Naruto. "They fear me."

"Well duh, you're all killing people all the time for anything, crushing them with sand and all that. When was the last time you were nice to them?" Naruto folded his arms over his chest. "I mean come on, did you ever give them a reason not to be afraid of you? From what my friends told me, they were actually a bit worried for you in our fight."

Gaara looked a little surprised by that.

"What? Family is important and they are your family. Look, just give them a chance okay? If you don't be nice to others then no one will be nice to you and if that doesn't work than just try harder! You can't give up because I don't give up on anything. If you want others to like you than all you got to do is make them see that you're not scary." Although he said it Naruto couldn't help but wonder how Gaara would pull that off. Even now he felt a little uncomfortable with the boy and how he didn't seem to blink all that much. It was kind of creepy but he pressed on.

"I know I got luckier with a cool dad and friends," Naruto looked him in the eye now. "But you're the only other person like me that I know about. You're the only one that I can see that could even understand what it's like having the responsibility of holding one of the tailed beasts. In a way that makes us 'brothers' and I don't want to see my only brother in this world be lonely."

He smiled at Gaara then, "So tell you what, I'll be your first friend if you'll let me."

"You'll...what?" Gaara wasn't sure to believe his words or not but something long and buried deep inside of him was stirring and it wasn't the demon.

"You heard me," Naruto put out his hand to Gaara. "I'll be your friend so you're not alone in this world. Others were there for me so I want to be there for you. I want to show you that there is more to the world than just loneliness. So what do you say, friends?"

Gaara stared at the hand, he couldn't believe this was happening. He had tried to kill this boy and yet he wanted to be...friends? The word felt so alien to Gaara and yet something inside of him wanted to reach out to finally reach out a hand in friendship and have it actually accepted for once. He could remember being so small and alone, crying himself to sleep at nights from the pain in his heart. The loneliness had been consuming, like he was living in eternal darkness even when the sun was out. To feel so alone even in a room full of people with their cold or fearful eyes looking at him.

He had been alone for so long he couldn't remember what it felt like to not be alone. Yet, even now his hand was slowly moving forward. His hand lightly placed itself into Naruto's, for a moment Gaara thought that this was all a trick to lower his guard that Naruto would attack in that moment of weakness.

It never came, Naruto only smiled and shook his hand.

"There, we're friends now." Naruto said happily.

"Friends..." Gaara felt the words slid out of his mouth, he wasn't sure if he had ever call anyone that or how long he had said that word. But if felt strangely good to say it and deep in the darkness of his own heart for the first time a small ray of light was slowly coming into being. A light made of hope and of friendship.

**-Hatake Home-**

Kakashi shifted a little as he woke up with the dawn, the first thing he noticed was purple hair in his face. He smiled as he felt his body pressed up against Anko's back, one arm wrapped around her waist. She had been staying with him ever since the end of the invasion. Apparently her place had been hit in the invasion, nothing major but it would be without power and water for awhile. So she had started to make herself at home, not that Kakashi minded.

With Naruto still recovering it was just too quiet without his adopted son around. Plus it was easier with Naruto out of the house for him and Anko to have some more private time together. He could feel Anko's soft breathing as she was still asleep. It had been a long day yesterday, with all the rebuilding that was going on. It didn't help that the Hokage was still in his hospital bed. He would make it through but his battle with Orochimaru had pushed his old body beyond its limits.

Professionals said that it was a marvel that he was still alive but they were in doubt if he could ever be a ninja again. His old body had just warn itself out, there were rumours flying around that a new Hokage would have to be made soon and he would go back into retirement.

But that was only one of the worries and at the moment Kakashi didn't want to think on that. He just wanted to snuggle his girlfriend in peace, which he did. He felt her warm body against his through the clothing they had on, well at least the amount they did wear to bed. Kakashi was just in boxers while she settled for panties and a dark black shirt. They had been so busy lately with the rebuilding that last night they only had the energy to change and go to sleep. But it was still nice, having her here in his bed felt perfect. She even seemed to fit well like this in this position.

He took a small sniff of her hair, getting her scent, the smell of her favourite tea, dongo and a hint of snake. He once made a small joke about that, she came back saying he smelt like dog.

She shifted a bit as she groaned, "What time is it?"

"Looks like seven in the morning," He told her gently.

She grumbled something as she turned around and snuggled into his chest, "Too early…"

His hands slowly ran up her bare skin of her back making her sigh in contentment. She really did have very nice skin something he liked very much. It wasn't until he saw all the extra products in the bathroom that he knew just how much work she much put into certain things. Not that he was complaining of course. He could feel her bare legs against his, her warm body against his, the scene was just too perfect.

"That feels nice," Anko muttered feeling his nice strong hands running up her back and spine. She loved how he would trail his fingers along her spine making the cluster of nerves there fire off in pleasure. She had been surprised to find out that their love life wasn't all just down and dirty, which was great. But the gentler side to things like this she found herself liking as well.

She started to run her hands over his chest feeling the hard body under her fingers. She was slowly starting to get more and more awake and was liking where this was going. She decided to up the stakes as her own arm wrapped around his own torso. She started to place light kisses of his neck, she heard him groan slightly and his hand trailing ever so slowly down lower on her body. She felt his hand caress her firm ass and suddenly staying in bed felt like a good idea only she didn't want to sleep at the moment.

After their little 'wake up session' Anko was feeling more energized as she took first shot at the bathroom. Kakashi didn't mind, plus if they tried to shower together they might stay in there until noon anyway, plus using that much hot water wouldn't be good. So he put on a pair of sweat pants and a shirt as he went to get some breakfast ready for them. Pulling on his mask he entered the kitchen to see that already someone had made himself at home.

"Jiraiya," Kakashi nodded to him. "When did you get here?"

"Somewhere around," his voice pitched up slightly. "Oh kami yes, right there yes, do it harder, oh you are-"

"Okay I get it!" Kakashi cut him off. "If she knows you were here for that she'll castrate you."

"Duly noted," Jiraiya smirked at the blush he could see around the mask. Although he had to admit, the young had it good sometimes. If only he and Tsunade could have gotten together in their youth, or ever…well that was a heartbreak that he didn't want to revisit again so he quickly got to business.

"I'm going to find my old teammate Tsunade, the council feel it's time for a new Hokage and she's been nominated."

'_So the rumours were true,'_ Kakashi mused as he started on some breakfast.

"I want to bring Naruto along with me," Jiraiya told him.

"Oh really?" Kakashi looked interested in this. "Why is that?"

"I want to see how far he's come along, plus I want to teach him a few things," The old sage told him. He had to admit the kid was slow to start but he always finished things off. Plus it might do to use all that energy and focus it into some training that he felt the boy might be ready for.

Kakashi thought about it, he knew that Jiraiya was the godfather for Naruto, even if the boy didn't know it, and he guessed the old man just wanted to spend some time. After all he had only seen Naruto a few times when he was really young, Naruto didn't even remember those times when they had met again and Jiraiya had trained him for the chunin exams.

"Well I don't have an issue with that, but you'll have to ask him yourself," Kakashi simply told the old man. "Besides with everything going on we'll be busy here."

Jiraiya nodded, one of the reasons he needed to get Tsunade was because without a leader the village would suffer for it. They needed solidarity plus she was the best choice, he sure as hell wouldn't want Danzo to get in charge. That old war monger never did sit right with Jiraiya, the man's philosophy on how to run things was all too apparent and left a bad taste in Jiraiya's mouth.

Before anything else could be said a new feminine voice called out into the room.

"Oh Kakashi, looks like we're out of towels." Anko's teasing voice was heard.

Kakashi swore that they had plenty of towels that is until he had a sudden realization of what she was thinking about. He quickly turned around in his chair to give out a warning that they had company, all to find out that he was a little too late. Anko came into the doorway looking slightly wet and without a single thing on other than a smile. Which that too soon quickly went away as she saw that Jiraiya was looking at her in his seat that just had to be facing her direction.

Actually looking might have been a bit too kind, he was grinned like a perverted young boy, a small bit of blood coming out of his nose as he was trying to burn the mental image into his mind.

Anko yelled out as she quickly went around the corner so that she was no longer visible in the room. "Kakashi, what the hell!"

Kakashi sighed knowing she was going to be pissed and whatever she had planned he wasn't going to find out what it would be now. "I was going to warn you that we had company. I didn't know you were going to do that."

"No excuse!" Was her only reply as her footsteps were heard and a door slamming shut. She was going to get dressed and Kakashi knew that if Jiraiya was still in the room, she was going to kill the old pervert.

"How I envy the young some days, you got a real woman there," Jiraiya smiled at the young man across from him.

Kakashi just sighed, "I think you should go once she comes out dressed she'll be coming out armed."

That got the old hermit's attention, "Well I better go and look in on Naruto then. Good luck with your woman I think you're going to need it." With that the man despite his age, was very quickly and nimbly got out of the room and out the open window.

"Where the hell is that guy and why didn't you warn me we had company while I was in the shower?" A very irritated Anko stormed into the room. She had only her skirt and one of Kakashi's shirts on with a kunai in hand and murder in her eyes.

He had to admit she did look somewhat fearsome and even a bit erotic like that, all furious with her slightly wet hair all loose and the fact he could just make out that she wasn't wearing anything else under his shirt. She even hadn't buttoned it up all the way, but any dirty thoughts were quickly gone when she turned her eyes to him. He knew that without a target she would shift all that anger on to the next available one, his rotten luck was that was going to be him.

'_This, is going to be a long day,_' Kakashi thought to himself.

**Next up Chapter 2: Jiraiya's Mission**

**And it's back people, I needed the break but I hope you enjoy the sequel.**


	2. Jiraiya's Mission

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 2: Jiraiya's Mission**

Naruto was feeling a lot better as he sat in his room in the hospital. He had spent a lot of the night just talking with Gaara and getting to know the boy, he wasn't sure, but Naruto thought that he might have started to reach the other boy. Although heading his story like that, Naruto could see how Gaara had turned out like he had. He didn't want to think about where he might have been if he had been all alone in the world he could easily have ended up just like Gaara.

But it looked like maybe he had helped the other boy, only time would tell and he hoped that Gaara would open up.

He sighed as he counted down the time Hinata was usually around to visit in about an hour. That made him grin she usually brought ramen with her making it even better when she showed up. Although personally he couldn't wait to get out of here, it was just boring. At least the doctor had just told him that morning that he would be released tomorrow. There was so much he was planning on doing.

First was to hit Ichiraku ramen as he had a lot of meals to make up for it. Then he planned on seeing how everyone was doing, maybe bug Neji and Sasuke for a bit since that was always fun. Maybe get in some training with his dad, or maybe Lee if he was up for some as well. Then of course there was also hanging out with Hinata. He never got to really do much with her given all the insanity of the chunin exams to do much, plus him in the hospital didn't help matters.

He grinned with his hands behind his head as he started to think of all the things they could do. Normally they hung out as friends for years but now that things were different, there were all kinds of secret places they knew where they could be alone. Originally it had just been a way to play alone, which was hard when your best friend was the oldest daughter of a major clan. Especially when that clan could see through objects, thankfully with Hinata she knew the kinds of things her clan could do.

"You look like a boy with some interesting thoughts," a familiar voice broke him out of his day dreaming.

The boy shot up to see Jiraiya there sitting on his window with a perverted grin on the man's face.

"I've seen that look plenty of times of a young man in love with a girl," Jiraiya told him. "Just remember that she has a scary father from what I remember."

Naruto sweat dropped, "Yeah I do know." Naruto muttered remembering Hiashi chasing him around the village when he thought that he and Hinata were up to something very naughty. It had been a complete misunderstanding but still, the threat had been there. He had to revise his plans about Hinata to make sure that whatever they did alone, they weren't caught.

Jiraiya heard what the boy muttered, maybe he could use this for his latest book. The plot of a young boy seducing a princess was turning out very well, now with an overprotective father figure? Oh he really wanted to take out his note book the ideas this boy was giving him could make him finish his latest novel fairly soon.

"So what are you doing here Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked the man.

Jiraiya scowled a bit, "I really wish you wouldn't call me that."

"Yeah but it's true," Naruto grinned.

'_Oh yeah he got __**her**__ personality all right,'_ the man thought to himself. "Well I got a special mission and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me."

"A special mission?" Naruto's eyes lit up at the thought. "What kind?"

"Oh trust me this is a good one. I'm going to track down my old teammate and bring her back to the village."

Naruto looked confused, "That's it? Man that sounds boring, I'd think I'd rather stay here and go on a date with Hinata-chan."

"Kid this is important!" Jiraiya couldn't believe how fast the boy blew it off. "Look I'm going after my old teammate Tsunade." He saw the boy blink as the name didn't register. "One of the Sannin?" Still nothing. "She's the greatest medical ninja the world has ever known!"

Naruto thought about it, "I think she sounds familiar..."

"Brat didn't you ever learn about the Third Shinobi War or personal history of the village in school?"

Naruto just shrugged, "I never liked the book stuff in school, I was better in the practical thing."

Jiraiya was about to say something, before he realized that he had been the same way in school and there was no way for him to chew him out without being a hypocrite. He pushed that aside as it wasn't important and wanted to get to the matter at hand. "Okay then, look she's important for the future of the village because she's going to be the next Hokage."

"What!" That got a reaction out of Naruto. "The Old Man is Hokage!"

"Look he was my teacher and trust me when he was made Hokage I was never prouder. But he's old and his injuries were pretty bad. He only took up the job again because there was no one else that could be the Hokage. But he's old, you can fight the world but you can't fight time. Sooner or later time catches up to all of us." He stepped off the window and stood in front of Naruto.

"Hell even I'm starting to feel my age. I'm not as fast or as strong as I used to be, sure I make up for it with experience and knowledge and I'm still good enough in a fight. But there comes a time when we have to admit that we can't just keep doing this. He's realized that he's just not strong enough to go on and he's picked Tsunade to replace him." That is if he could figure out a way to get her to agree to the job he thought to himself.

Naruto looked down as he thought about it. As far back as he could remember the Old Man had been the Hokage, he always thought that the day would come when he would take over for him. He never once thought that someone else would be Hokage. Naruto looked up at Jiraiya.

"Is she really good enough to take over for him?" Naruto wanted to be sure that if there was going to be someone to take over, then they were the right person for the job. Not just anyone was going to take over for the Old Man after all.

Jiraiya grinned, "Kid, she's the granddaughter of the First Hokage, as I said she practically invented modern medical treatments. She's also pretty damn strong, maybe one of the strongest ninja in the world."

"She's really that strong?"

He barked out a laugh, "Trust me I wouldn't want to mess with her and I'm one of the few people that could take her on."

Jiraiya thought that Naruto was on the fence he could sense it, just one more little push and the boy would agree and he knew just what the kid would want to hear. "Tell you what, while we're searching for her I'll teach you a killer technique that only a handful of people know."

Naruto's eyes lit up like it was his birthday, "Really!"

"Yep, so what do you say kid?"

Naruto thought about it, he really wanted to get out of the hospital and enjoy some time with Hinata but this mission seemed to be really important plus this Tsunade woman sounded really strong. A new technique would also be something he could really use. That invasion had been a tough battle and he saw just how bad things could get. If he wanted to become Hokage one day he would need to be strong enough to protect everyone.

Another thought came to him his dad had told him about how because he was so busy his team wouldn't have much to do now. In fact his dad had a mission in a few days and Sakura and Sasuke couldn't go on it as it was a jonin only apparently from what he had said.

Naruto didn't like the idea of maybe getting stronger while his team was left behind, his dad always told him the importance of team work.

"Well I might but I want my team to come with us." Naruto told him.

Jiraiya hadn't expected that, "What do you mean you want your team to come?"

"They worked really hard for the chunin exams and they were with me to help me when the invasion happened. It wouldn't be right to leave them behind since my dad will be too busy with a genin team for a bit. We're a team and if they can't go then I can't go."

Jiraiya sighed as he thought about it, it would change his plans a bit but it was doable. Plus he had to admit the kid was thinking of his team that was something he could appreciate. He also knew that if he trained Naruto in the rasengan like he was planning to, he would have to think of something for them as well. He knew plenty of techniques but he wasn't sure he knew much about them. This was looking like a lot more work for him as he ran a hand through his long white hair.

Three students...god it had been so long since he had that. An image of three young students looking up at him in Rain country as he taught them how to be a ninja, those had been good years with them. An old pain filled him the loss of Yahiko, Konan and especially Nagato had been hard on him.

For a moment he didn't want to do this again, the memories were old but the pain still fresh. He closed his eyes as he wondered what he should do. He really wanted to spend some time with Naruto and to teach him the rasengan as it was his heritage. Kakashi had apparently already did the first stage so it shouldn't be too long to teach him.

'Brat has got me over a barrel and he doesn't even know it,' He thought to himself slightly amused. "Fine kid you got it."

"Alright!" Naruto couldn't wait to tell them. "Hey you think Hinata-chan can-"

"No." Jiraiya was firm this time. "Look brat, you're lucky I'm allowing them to come but that's it. This isn't some kind of vacation it's a mission and I'm not going to bring everyone you want. It's your team and that's it."

Naruto slumped a bit, being with Hinata on the mission would have been great but he knew he was pushing his luck. "Alright."

"Good, I'll get a few things settled with the Hokage and Kakashi about your team and see you tomorrow at noon." Jiraiya left through the same window he had entered by.

Naruto watched him go and was wondering just how he was going to break it to Hinata the he was going on a mission that he had no idea how long it would take. He sighed, he had really been looking forward to spending time with her too.

**-Elsewhere-**

Hinata was currently on her way to visit Naruto in the hospital again, she made a point to see him every day when she could. The last few days had been crazy but the village was slowly starting to get back to normal. There was still a lot of construction but that would take time anyway, the villagers themselves seemed to have gotten over the shock of the attack and were slowly putting their lives back in order.

She had also been able to think a lot about what she had learned about her boyfriend, a word she still had trouble thinking about without blushing slightly. Naruto had been adopted all this time, which looking at an image of the Fourth Hokage she could see a slight resemblance, given that she was one of the few that knew his face for the longest of times.

Still the fact that he had the Kyuubi itself sealed inside of him was something she had never known could happen. Although Naruto had told her that he hadn't known about it for long, it had hurt a bit that he hadn't trusted her with it. They were the oldest of friends but she could see that he had just been too afraid to tell someone. It was a frightening thing to have to deal with but she was a bit proud that he was keeping the village safe. All his life he had been secretly guarding their village from the demon and Hinata felt a sense of pride in Naruto's accomplishment.

She walked into the hospital going straight to his room, she knocked gently and heard Naruto's muffled voice. She opened the door and saw him sitting in his bed smiling through his mask as usual. She always felt her heart warm at his smiles, they reached his bright blue eyes and she felt like she could look at his eyes forever. They were just so expressive and deep she loved to look into them. They were such a stark contrast to the eyes of her clan.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto greeted her eagerly.

She couldn't help but smile at how happy he was to see her. "How are things today Naruto-kun?"

"Well I'm getting out of here tomorrow that's the good news."

Hinata's expression lit up, "Oh that's wonderful. I know that you don't like it in here."

"Yeah it's just so boring," he sighed. "There's no one else in this room either and mostly everyone is busy. I kept telling the doctors I was fine a few days ago but they wanted to make sure I was okay. Oh well at least when you visit it makes things better."

Hinata blushed slightly as she walked over to him and placed the take out ramen on a dinner tray for him. "I got your favorite."

"Awesome!" Naruto eagerly dug into it like he was a starving man. Since it was just him and Hinata he pulled down his mask to eat his meal.

Hinata nearly giggled as she saw him eat, he always looked so happy when he started eating ramen. He was soon finished and she noticed he had a noodle piece on his cheek. She had to take care of it soon or else he might put his mask on it and then it might get stuck. Without even thinking she took a small napkin that came with the takeout and wiped his cheek.

"Naruto-kun you shouldn't eat so fast, it's not healthy." She told him gently as she got the piece.

"Then how else would I get you to be this close," he grinned at her.

Hinata suddenly realized what she was doing and blushed deep crimson. She was very close to him now and her heart was beating faster. He could always do this but it got worse ever since she started actually dating him. "I-I just wanted to make sure that your face was clean."

He chuckled, "That's what makes you a good girlfriend." He noticed her blush and look shyly away. "And you're really cute when you blush and stutter."

"Y-you really think so?" She always felt self conscious of her stuttering and tried to work on stopping but it was a hard habit to break.

"Yeah I do."

She felt pretty happy that he said as much to her.

Naruto liked to see her happy but he knew that he had to tell her about the mission. He sighed, he really wanted to enjoy this. This might be the only time he would have with her until the mission. "Hey Hinata-chan? I got something to tell you..."

Hinata looked at him and noticed the serious expression on his face and was starting to get a bit worried. Naruto told her all about the mission he was going on as soon as he was getting out the hospital. By the end she knew that it was a very important mission but she also felt a bit sad. She was hoping to spend some time with him, that entire month during the training for the chunin exams she missed seeing him.

The only time she got to see him was during the final rounds. She had seen him only in the hospital and even though they were alone at times she did miss going about the village with him. She had been looking forward to some time together outside of the hospital.

Naruto did notice her downed expression and tried to think of something to cheer her up. "Hey Hinata-chan, I don't know how long this mission will take but how about we go out on a date when I get back?"

"A d-date?"

"Yeah, I want to make a special one for just us. What do you say? When I get back I'll take you out." He smiled at her.

She blushed at the idea and liked it, she nodded her head feeling slightly giddy at the thought of Naruto taking her out. They hadn't really had the change to actually do much in the way of dating and her mind started to wonder exactly what he had planned.

"That's good, so don't worry I'll make sure it's a great date." Although he had no idea what to do, at least he might have a long time to think on it. He could also ask Sakura for advice and get a girl's view on things. "So if we're not going to see each other for awhile then how about we make the most of this?"

**-Elsewhere-**

It had taken most of the day but Jiraiya had finally gotten around to finding Kakashi to tell him what Naruto wanted. Apparently he was laying low, not that he blamed the younger man, that woman although pretty he was sure had a temper to her. Still it had been a pain to find the man, someone didn't become an elite jonin for nothing after all. Kakashi had given the go ahead, he was going to be too busy with a few upcoming missions to take care of his team.

The Hokage had gone along with it as a genin team that was only partially complete and without their captain couldn't be used for missions other than D rank and there was much more important work to be done.

So he had gotten the approval for the mission, Kakashi would let his other two genins know and so that they could prepare.

At the moment he sat in a branch of a nice tree thinking about what was going to happen. It was going to be a major pain tracking down Tsunade. Oh sure he could do it, she left an obvious trail when you know what to look for and she was only interested in keeping creditors and the loan sharks out of her hair. Of course that was only half the challenge and might even not be the hard part of it.

No he knew that the hardest part would be convincing her to come back and take the job. Oh that wasn't going to be easy, given the loss of both her younger brother Nawaki and also Dan. After the war and all that death she just broke inside. She just couldn't take it and so she ran, it was only through the favour of the current Hokage that allowed her to do as she wanted.

Truth was he had no idea what he could say to her, he hadn't even seen her in years although he was certain she was still using that genjutsu of hers to say young looking. A perfect example of a woman that was vain about her appearance but then again, if anyone knew her secret to keeping a young looking appearance that genjutsu would be all over the place. He grinned as some even though that her looks were even enhanced than how she had really looked like.

Truth was she had looked like that, he knew all too well. All too many times he had gone to sleep with her image in his mind. Yeah he knew he was an old fool, hell he had been a young fool trying to get her to date him since they first met as genins. Back then she was pretty flat but he still thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever met. So over thirty years or trying and rejection and even now he would still love it if only once she would give him a chance.

Yeah he was now an old fool still in love with the first girl that had stolen his heart and had no desires of returning it as she had said many times over. But the heart would want what it wanted apparently. He could put his emotions behind him when they met, he was a professional at times but this would be hard on him. Seeing her for the first time in years would be a bit hard but she needed to finally come home. Konoha needed her more than ever and in a way he knew that she needed to come home and face things. She needed to learn how to heal those wounds. He just hoped that he could figure out a way to do that, and baring that at least maybe he could hope Naruto could.

He had been watching the boy and something about him could change a person.

"Wow you look pissed today." A female's voice broke through his thinking.

"Tell me about it, I was having such a good morning and then it gets ruined because of some damn pervert." A very familiar voice that he heard that morning in fact.

Jiraiya looked down into the steam filled area of the woman's open aired baths. He noticed the familiar purple hair and from what he could see was a familiar body wrapped up in a white towel.

"I swear to god if I see that guy again it will be too soon." Anko told Kurenai.

"What exactly happened?" Kurenai had seen her friend looking a bit in a bad mood.

Jiraiya cursed his rotten luck, he thought a little peeping would have been nice before leaving for the mission but this was getting dangerous. He had gotten an eyeful of that woman this morning and apparently was lucky to get away with his skin intact. Well he wasn't going to tempt fate now and slowly got up and tried to silently leave. But of course, cursing his damn love for the female form after it happened. He took one quick peep and stepped on a small twig growing out of the branch which snapped under foot.

He looked down at it in horror and he could almost count it off in his mind before it happened.

"Is there someone up in that tree!"

He tried to move but when they started throwing anything that wasn't nailed at his location. A wash bucket slammed into his head, that made him loose his balance. The good news was that he fell into the pool so it was a soft landing the bad news, was that he landed in the pool.

Coming up for air he was met with the angry looks of many women of Konoha including a very familiar face.

"Oh this must me karma," Anko said thankful she still had on her towel as she cracked her knuckles, a very sadistic grin on her face as she looked down at him.

His face paled he knew that look he had seen in on Tsunade many times. "I can explain..." he tried to say.

"Tell it after we kick your ass," Anko told him.

The screaming from the hot springs that day could be heard half way through the village.

**Next up Chapter 3: The Mission**


	3. The Mission

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 3: The Mission**

It was early morning as Sasuke and Sakura were waiting by the North Gate for everyone else. Sakura sighed as she hoped that Naruto wouldn't be late. Knowing him he could be trying to get a last meal of ramen in, saying goodbye to Hinata or both. She kind of envied Naruto and Hinata, they seemed very nice together. She cast a look to Sasuke, he was still in the new black clothing that he had for the chunin exams. His katana that he was learning to use was sheathed behind his lower back as usual. It did kind of suit him more she thought trying not to blush.

She looked down at herself she had changed her own style since her training. Gone now was that red dress she normally wore, Anko had told her time and again that it wasn't proper ninja attire. She had to admit her new clothing did allow for better movement and protection. Her tonfas were slung by her hips in a new belt and holster that felt a bit more at ease on her body. Now she had on a pink shirt and a red vest with shin protectors like Anko wore and forearm protection. It got a bit heavy at times but she was getting use to the wait.

The ninja mesh she wore over all her exposed skin was another thing she got used to. But she had been glad for it, her match in the chunin exams would have gone a lot worse for her without the protection. She still remembered how badly Ino had been cut up by that kunoichi from Mist. Sakura did wonder what happened to that team they just kind of disappeared in all the chaos. Then again looking around she could still see the scars of the attack on her village, no one could say for certain how long it would take to repair it.

"Finally he's here," Sasuke said as Sakura looked to see Naruto running up to them with a backpack on.

"Sorry I'm late!" Naruto told them.

"You're turning more and more into your father," Sasuke sighed.

"Hey I couldn't help but be late!" Naruto shot back.

"This better not involved the road of life, cats or any other excuse we've heard all before or I'll hurt you," Sasuke told him seriously.

"Hinata or ramen?" Sakura asked him.

Naruto blinked before smirking behind his mask placing a hand behind his head, "Both actually."

She only smiled and rolled her eyes she wasn't surprised at all, she had known him for years so by now she had a pretty good idea of his personality. Which was odd as Naruto also kept up ways of surprising everyone. Sakura felt that if she knew Naruto until they were both old and retired he would still be finding ways to keep surprising everyone.

"So all we're missing is Ero-sennin." Naruto said looking around.

"No you're not and stop calling me that," Jiraiya said as he made his way to them from behind. Although the genin knew who they were going on this mission with and why they couldn't help but look. Mainly at the few bandages on his face and he seemed to be favouring his left side slightly.

"What happened to you?" Naruto was the first to ask.

Jiraiya just grumbled, "You never mind about that, just fell at the wrong time at the wrong place. Anyway let's go the sooner we leave the sooner we can find Tsunade before she decides to skip whatever town she's currently in."

The four of them made their way out of the gates and onto their new mission. Although Naruto was the one to ask a few questions as soon as they were starting.

"So where will we find her?" Naruto asked the old man. "If she moves around a lot won't she be hard to find?"

"I know her well enough to know her habits," he explained to not only Naruto but the others as well since they should know this information as well. "She likes drinking and gambling so places where she can find both in good supply is a primary target. She'll also stay in our country, although she had been given leave of the village she can't leave the country."

Even the Hokage couldn't have gotten away with letting a ninja leave the village and wonder around the world as they pleased. Staying within the country was one of the few stipulations that Tsunade was given before she left. Jiraiya himself as an exception since he was the spy master for their village so him going into any country was a given. That was why he made sure to send reports now and then just in case anyone was wondering what he was doing.

Since it gave the illusion of him actually doing work he was supposed to.

"The only time she won't be is when she's ducking her creditors." He continued on.

"Creditors?" Sakura asked him wondering what he was getting at.

"She loves to gamble but the thing is, she sucks at it," he said bluntly. "In fact she's so bad she's called the Legendary Sucker." He thought about warning them about not making a perverted comment on that nickname in her presence but he figured that they wouldn't make the same mistake he had a few years ago when he came across her.

"Anyways, if she goes to ground it won't be for long."

"So how exactly do be pick up her trail?" Sasuke asked.

"I got a few ideas," Mainly from how he had been secretly keeping tabs on her all this time. He worked with the Hokage to make sure that her debts never got out of control. It wouldn't do to have her debts so high that they couldn't protect her from the law. Or the usual loan sharks as well. The last thing they needed was for loan sharks start looking to hire other mercenaries or worse, other ninja to hunt down Tsunade.

That could be bad for all kinds of reasons depending on which country they were hired from.

He signed looking at the kids. "I know of a few places she was last scene. All we have to do it follow the trail of money she owes and it should point us in the right direction. In the meantime I can help give you kids a little training. I heard Kakashi boast once that he wanted to make you three into this generation's version of my team, the Sannin."

He had heard that that was the excuse Kakashi gave for picking these three for his team, although looking at what they had done so far it might be possible. Sure they were a little rough around the edges but he felt that he could almost see them as a younger version of his team back in the day. It should prove interesting to say the least to see what skills these kids had. Granted he wanted to train Naruto for more personal reasons but maybe it was the nostalgia that was getting to him.

"So when we get the time, I'm going to see what you kids got. We can do some basics so I can get a handle on your skill levels and see where we go from there."

"Cool! When do we start?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Brat, I can still see the damn mountain and the gate," Jiraiya made a mental note on Naruto's impatience. He would have to see about fixing that, if it was possible. "We have to at least make some distance. Look tonight we'll camp and I can see what you kids got, it will give me time to plan out your training."

Naruto looked a little disappointed but the fact was that he was going to get some training in later, he just hoped it didn't involved being thrown into another chasm. One time was enough for him, not to mention having to ride the boss toad hadn't exactly been fun either. Looking at his teammates he could see that Sasuke was eager to learn something new as well. Sakura looked interested but she was more relaxed about it.

"So how far is this village we're heading to anyway?" Sasuke asked if only to find out how long they would be on the road.

"A couple of days to get there, we'll spend a day or two looking around and then well head on out again." Jiraiya told them as they started their journey together.

**-Unknown Location, A few Days Later-**

Deep underground in one of many of his secret bases, Orochimaru was in his personal quarters as she checked over his body, well the one he was currently using. He peeled back the fake skin showing the face of a young woman. He didn't care about things like gender he was beyond such matters now. He had ascended into a higher being, something beyond such notions. He had moved beyond the limitations of being human long ago.

But he couldn't find a body that could hold him for more than a few years. Looking at the face he could see the signs of this body starting to decay. Faint veins were starting to show in certain areas, the skin felt a bit colder to the touch and waxy. This body wouldn't last too much longer and he would need a new one soon.

Already a selection process was being used but he really wanted Sasuke's body, to have the sharingan would make it so easy to learn every single jutsu in the world. Knowledge was the ultimate power and to know everything would make him a god among men. His injuries from his fight with the Hokage were healed given that the fight had ended from the entire building collapsing under them. To think that a genin was apparently responsible for it, at least that's what his spies had informed him.

It was such a shame that the Uchiha clan had been wiped out he could have taken his pick from an entire clan. Instead he was left with but only two choices, Itachi, well that was a road he wasn't willing to go down again. He had been beaten too easily so he focused on the only other living Uchiha. Sasuke was still a bit too young but with time and some training the boy could be the greatest host body he could get his hands on.

He had already marked the boy, the power would lure him over to him, at least that was the plan. So far things hadn't gone as well as he had hoped. Suna had found their dead leader and figured out that he had played them for fools. Now both the Konoha and Suna's ties were stronger and he was at the top of their list of missing nin to find. Not that he cared about it, but any Sound ninja would be fair game in their territories now.

The Leaf village hadn't been as damaged as he had hoped and he had still failed to kill his old master. Sasuke himself hadn't seemed to be using the curse seal either at last nothing that anyone could find. His spies in Konoha were limited now ANBU had been looking deeper in how far Orochimaru's spies in the village went. They wouldn't find them all but they would have to go underground for a bit.

Orochimaru replaced the fake skin onto the body's face he had no idea who the person once was not that it mattered. She had been a strong ninja and that was all that he needed to know. Looking back into the mirror his face now looked as it did decades ago. Her smirked at how only Jiraiya was the one that looked his age from his own team. As soon as he finished he heard someone knock on his door.

"Enter," the leader of Sound commanded as he sat in a large chair awaiting whoever it was. Orochimaru was pleased to see it was Kabuto the young boy was the best servant he had. No one was more loyal, dedicated and skilled. It was hard to find people like him, in fact he didn't know of anyone off hand that he trusted more than Kabuto. The boy was a rare find and one of the reasons he would never consider using him as a host, even if the boy would do it gladly. No, Kabuto was worth more as he was than just another host body.

"I'm glad to see you got out of Konoha in one piece," Orochimaru smiled at his spy.

The boy bowed slightly and smiled. "It wasn't entirely easy but in the confusion it was easy to move around. I did have to ensure that we still had some information coming out of Konoha, now that I'm known as a spy for you there."

"It had to happen eventually," Orochimaru agreed.

"Yes but I was able to get one last piece of information, it's why it took me so long to get here," Kabuto pushed up his glasses. "Sasuke has left the village apparently."

"Oh?" Now Orochimaru was getting interesting.

"He's on a mission with the rest of his team but the odd thing is, it's not with Kakashi. My contact said that the man looked to be Jiraiya himself."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed as his mind went to work, there was something going on that man wouldn't take on three genins for no reason. Although a memory of those three orphans came to mind, was the sentimental old fool trying again where he had failed? No, Orochimaru didn't feel that it was totally correct. No, the man was up to something, plus this could be either a problem or a solution.

The problem was that if Sasuke was getting training under Jiraiya then he might not view as needing Orochimaru's help to kill his brother. That wouldn't do at all, the solution was a simple one, he would find out what they were after and deal with it himself. He would show that boy what real power was and also he could also throw a wrench into Akatsuki's plans if he could kill the jinchuriki of the Leaf as well. Plus he owed the boy for ruining his fun earlier as well.

"Kabuto, I think it's time I had a reunion with my old friend," Orochimaru smirked. "Send out best trackers I want to find out where they are heading at all times but do not let them know that they are being followed. Don't underestimate Jiraiya, if he suspects something he will be even more deadly with his guard up."

Kabuto bowed to his master, "As you wish."

**- Fire Country-**

Jiraiya looked at the open field in the forest it was the perfect place to stop for the day. It had been a few days and already he felt he had a lead with what he had learned in the last village they had been at. Plus he was able to buy the items he needed for the next few training he was going to give. Plus it was a nice out of the way spot too.

"Alright kids, get your stuff unpacked and set up over there," He pointed off to the side. "We might as well start the next training."

"So you're not just going to watch us spar again?" Sasuke asked. The last few days Jiraiya had them spar against each other as well as show what they were capable of doing. He could understand that and the man had said he needed to know their skills but he was anxious to get to some real training.

"Yep, alright get to it, the sooner your stuff is put away the sooner the training can start," He told them smiling as he watched them run off. It was nice seeing kids so eager to learn again he found. When they were ready he had them stand in front of him as he got a few items ready himself.

He stepped up to Sakura, "Alright you're pretty good with genjutsu and water right?"

Sakura nodded her head, "Yes, I trained a bit with Kurenai-sensei and she said I had a gift for it and learned a couple of them from her. And I know two water techniques, aqua tower and the hidden mist technique as well."

Jiraiya paused, "I haven't seen you use that last one yet, when did you even learn that?"

Sakura looked a bit bashful now, "Well it's hard to move around as I can't really see that far on it. I've only really used it in training. Kakashi-sensei taught me it as I think he learned it from his fight again Zabuza."

Jiraiya nodded as he guessed that Kakashi learned it from his sharingan most likely. He knew of the technique as well, the village of Mist wouldn't like it if they found out one of their best jutsus were slipping out among the Leaf. He also guessed the other reason the girl didn't use it, you had to use your own chakra to spread it out. The larger the effect the more chakra you needed and the girl was very careful of her use of her chakra. He might have to help her expand that later.

"Well unfortunately I'm not good with genjutsu or have an aptitude for the element of water." He could see she looked a bit disappointed with that. "But I can help you learn these little things I got from Konoha before we left."

He handed her a scroll as she looked at them, opening them up she saw the scroll was about how to make water clones as well as a few other water based jutsus. She was a little confused as to why water clones were here as she had already been taught that in her training with Anko and Kurenai. At least the other two were ones she didn't know.

"Like all the elements they are easier to do when you got the actual element to work with," Jiraiya explained to not only her but the others to make sure they all knew this part. "When you can't use the actual element you can forge your chakra into that element as you all should know. In a way you can use a part of yourself for this, using body heat to help form fire, the water inside of your body to help connect to the element of water and so on. Wind is one of the only ones you usually don't have to worry about since if you can't breathe then you're in trouble anyway."

"But I suppose if you're underwater you could use the air in your lungs. Anyways each element is different and requires slightly different skill set. Water is actually a decent one to work with from what I gathered. Anyways take the water clones for example. They only have a fraction of the strength of the person but that means that unlike say the shadow clones where you strength is equally split between them all."

"With this you'll only have to put a fraction of your strength and chakra reserves into them. This should also help you out in battle too."

"Yeah I remember," Sakura nodded her head, "I noticed that when I used them earlier but why is the water clone on this? I already know this one."

"It came with the scroll, I got it off a Mist ninja years ago and just never really could learn any of this. But since this is a real scroll from a country that specializes in water techniques it should have a bit more details on the water clones that I know Konoha wouldn't normally have. You might find some useful new information about it. But the other two should be more helpful to you." He explained to her. "The other two water jutsus in there are the water whip, which is good for capturing and I think I heard you had an encounter with the other one."

She looked to see that the other was water bullets that Mist genin she had faced used it and it had been a good offensive move. Sakura started to memorize it immediately at that point. Jiraiya looked to Naruto and already knew what he was going to teach him. He went over to a box and got an item out of it he threw it at Naruto who caught it and looked at it. It was a rubber ball as he looked at it wondering what this was going to be fore.

"Since Kakashi trained you all in that balloon thing earlier, this Naruto will teach you the next step in that training for a special jutsu." Jiraiya told him. "You see although that was a perfect example of how to shape a jutsu, it was actually the first of three steps to learning a special jutsu that only me and Kakashi know."

"Really?" Naruto's eyes lit up with that. "So was dad going to teach us all this jutsu?"

"No," Jiraiya told them all seeing the looks he was getting. "This jutsu was created by the Fourth Hokage himself and since you all know Naruto's past, you should all understand that only Naruto is going to be trained in this as it's his heritage. I know it because I trained him and he taught it to me, he taught it to Kakashi who used it to develop the chidori. But if you want to learn this it will be Naruto's choice later on as he's the only one that should be the one to decide on who to teach this to."

Naruto wasn't sure what to say as he looked down at the ball in his hand, he never really had much from his biological parents. He had a picture of them that he kept in his room, but other than that there really wasn't much. If he could learn this then he would have something important that he could carry with him at all times.

Sakura and Sasuke looked on both getting the feeling that they could feel what Naruto was thinking. Sasuke himself knew what it was like to want something of your family. Naruto had known his adopted father all his life but not his biological parents.

Jiraiya threw an iron rod to Sasuke who caught it and looked at it as though he was being played with. He gave Jiraiya a look as though to ask if the man was being serious.

"You know that lightning technique of Kakashi's the chidori right? Well think of this as taking that training to a new level." He explained to the boy. "I'm going to train you how to use lightning and put it into your weapons as well as manipulate it even further. Lightning can be formed easily but it's hard to control as well as dangerous."

"But if you can learn how to control it, lightning could be a very deadly weapon for you that only your imagination can limit you. For this for example will teach you how to put lightning into that sword you carry."

Sasuke looked at the iron rod and he had to admit that did sound appealing to create his own jutsus would give him an advantage as no one, not even his brother would know what to expect until the fight began. Plus he was already thinking of other kinds of uses with it if he would master that element like Jiraiya was explaining.

"That rod will act like a lightning rod for you," Jiraiya explained further. "it will help you draw out the lightning but the problem will be keeping it in. It will want to run out on you, jumping from the iron to somewhere else. You'll have to keep it reigned in, in a way you're going to have to keep a hold of lightning in your bare hand." Jiraiya smirked. "That won't be easy and you better start small, you don't want to fry your own hand in one day."

Jiraiya looked around him and crossed his arms this might turn out well after all. "Alright each of you pick a large area for your own and I'll watch the three of you. Sasuke, I want some extra space for you, I don't want you accidentally throwing out a lightning bolt by accident."

The three genins quickly got to picking out their own training spots as Jiraiya started to look over their training, it brought be memories of good times in the past. Of his own training as a genin to his training of his other students. Maybe, just maybe these kids would surprise him.

**Next up Chapter 4: New Training**


	4. New Training

**AN: Apparently I forgot that Sakura knew the water clones, I edited the last chapter to have the scroll that Jiraiya gave her also contained the water whip and water bullet that she will be learning to use.**

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 4: New Training**

Hinata sighed as she was sitting in the back yard of her home her pet rabbit was on her lap as she pet its white fur. It had been over a week since Naruto and his team left and she was starting to miss him. She knew he would be back but she was so used to seeing him around the village. It got like this every time either of them had a mission. She was also wondering what Naruto would learn by the time he got back, he said he was also going to train some more with Jiraiya of all people. Although it took her a moment to figure it out, she wished he wouldn't call a legendary ninja 'Ero-sennin', it was very disrespectful.

But not only Naruto, but all of Team 7 would gain some kind of training. They were all going to get stronger and what was she doing, sitting around with her pet. It wasn't like she didn't want to train, Kurenai was out on a mission, Shino was doing some special breeding for some new bugs. Kiba was training with Akamaru.

She was thinking on how to get stronger as well, since she didn't want to fall behind and also because she wanted to be able to stand with Naruto. She wanted to become someone he could be proud of to be with. Yes, she knew that he always said kind things to her but she always had confidence problems as far back as she could remember. There was just so much expected of her as the possible next head of the clan, even when she was in the academy she had to study Hyuga clan laws, fighting style, proper manners and so on.

That training month with Sakura had been great because she felt that both of them had gotten stronger. She had gotten a lot closer to Sakura in that month she found that Sakura herself felt like she was weakest member of Team 7. Hinata could relate to that, Kiba and Shino seemed to be so strong to her. Now that Sakura was off training with one of the legendary Sannin, there was no telling how much stronger she was going to get.

'_So what am I doing just sitting around then?'_ she asked herself. She needed to become stronger not only because she didn't want to be left behind but lately she had been thinking. She was to be the net head of her clan and she wanted to make her father proud. She had missed out on the chunin exams this year but there was another in six months, she wanted to be ready for that. She wanted to become someone better, working with Kurenai, Anko and Sakura for that month made her think of what she would do with her life.

Kurenai was closer to her than any other female adult, sometimes Kurenai reminded Hinata of her own mother. She was surprised by that thought, she missed her mother but it had been so long ago that she couldn't remember as much about her as she used to. It was a scary thought for her but maybe that was why she was so close to her team's sensei.

Anko and Sakura had shown Hinata that you were what you made of yourself.

Hinata dropped her rabbit onto the grass and watched him hop around eating some of the grass. She was surprised by how smart the animal was obviously it had some training as it knew to come back to her room and would actually go into the small open cage where he slept. She didn't have to worry about him and the entire clan by this point had seen her enough times with the rabbit to know it was hers.

"Ah I figured you might be here," a familiar voice said from behind startling her.

She turned to face her older cousin walking up from behind.

"You should be more aware of your surroundings," Neji told her as he tried to chide her as best as someone from the branch family could to the main house. "You are a ninja after all now."

"Ah your right, sorry, I was just lost in thought," She sighed knowing that she should be more aware but she felt safe here, this was her home. Then again, she still remembered that night she had been kidnapped, was that the reason he told her to be more aware? It was true that security had changed since that night but no security was perfect.

He sat down next to his younger cousin he had always looked out for her since they were younger, partly because as a member of the branch family he was supposed to but also because he was close to his cousin. Sometimes she and Hanabi were like the younger sisters that he never had, plus Hinata was the kind of person you felt that you had to look out for.

"So what is it that you are worried about?"

Hinata fiddled with her jacket as she did sometimes when nervous. "W-Well I was thinking of how to train to become stronger, I don't want to fall behind."

Neji knew that Hinata always had issues with her own strength so he wasn't surprised to hear this.

"Naruto-kun is training right now with everyone else and I'm not sure what I can do to become stronger."

He nodded his head as he thought about it, as far as he knew everyone else was training hard as well. That attack had taken them all by surprise and in many cases had been the worst combat any of the genins had experienced. Neji who had been a ninja for over a year couldn't remember a day where he had fought as hard as that.

Looking at her he had an idea that might work, given that Gai was busy they didn't have as many missions as they used to. His team often would train together when they didn't have any real missions but maybe he could help.

"Would you like me to help you in your gentle fist skills?" Neji offered.

Hinata looked up at him surprised, she knew that Neji was a true genius in the gentle fist, she had seen her own father offer some advice to his nephew at times when Neji's father wasn't around to help. To have Neji help her train would be a big advantage to her. It was true that her form was slowly coming along but Hanabi was getting better and Hinata wanted to make her father proud of her skills and impress Naruto.

"You would do that? Aren't you busy with your team?"

He shrugged, "we can train together still, but you are family and I should help you if you need me. If you want you can even join my team for training although I warn you, my team's training is a lot more physical than what you're most likely used to."

He still cringed at how it felt that first month of Gai's training to 'break them in' as he once put it. All those very early days and insane physical training made him ache for weeks. Getting up he brushed off his shorts and he looked at her.

"Well if you have some free time we can get starting right now if you want."

She got up quickly, "Thank you Neji-niisan."

He gave her a small smile, "I told you, we're family so I should help you if you ever need it."

**-Team 7-**

Sakura breathed deeply as she looked at the trees in front of her, sweat was covering her body and she felt like she could just drop at any moment but she still was trying to get this new jutsu down. One more she went through the hand seals and thrust out her hand. The water whip shoot out and wrapped around a branch, she pulled hard. The point of this was so that the whip would be strong enough to hold a person. If it fell apart or wasn't strong enough then it wouldn't be any use. When she first started it took a few tries to ever get the jutsu working, then it was to actually wrap around the target.

She gave one pull and for a second it held but then the water broke apart and she fell to her knees, that was it, that was the last try she had in her, she was nearly completely out of chakra. She fell onto her back and sighed. This whole week had been nothing but training while Jiraiya went searching for Tsunade.

Looking to her side she wanted to see how the others were doing. Naruto was still working on the rasengan he was getting close to bursting the balls at this point. Maybe in a day or two he would get to the next level, whatever that was.

A loud zap and crack sound followed by swearing was heard. She looked to see Sasuke flexing his left hand. He had stopped using his right one since he couldn't close it anymore, most likely it would take a nights rest for him to be able to close it again she bet. She normally would care but she was just too tired to really move at this point. All the water training was taking its toll on her but she felt that she was getting stronger.

Sasuke looked at the metal bar that was sitting in the grass he flexed his left hand as he bent to pick it up. This was turning out to be a lot harder then he thought, his right hand couldn't close and the tips of his fingers felt a little numb, so he had stopped using it in case he did permanent damage to it. Picking it up Sasuke could feel the slight heat of it from all the electricity being sent into it but thankfully not too hot.

He sighed as he took a deep calming breath. He had been at this for a week but every failure brought him one step forward. He no longer had the electricity shooting out of the piece of metal so he was glad for that much. When it leapt from the bar it literally could and would go in any direction. He had zapped himself a few times from that Naruto had nearly gotten a good one once too. This was why he trained as far away from Sasuke as he could now.

Sasuke thought about the feel of the jutsu, he could feel the energy wanting to go through the bar to the end and jump out and he had figured out how to stop it with his chakra but then it was like trying to hold a wild animal with his bare hands. The power wanted out and didn't care what Sasuke wanted. It was very difficult but if he could master it then he could figure out how to put it into any metal weapon.

Plus it wasn't only this, but what if he could shape the chidori? He knew that putting the chidori into his hand was the first step he had spent a month learning that technique alone. He had struggled to keep the power in his hand, but putting it into another object was different. With his hand he had his own chakra network to work with, an inanimate object was different.

Picking up the metal rob he calmed himself as he focused on making the electrical energy into his hand and prepared to send it into the metal.

For Naruto he was working hard on this next stage of the rasengan. So far the rubber ball wasn't breaking. He sat on his but cross legged as he focused he could see places in the ball bulge out in several places but still he couldn't get it just right. He tried putting in more power but he lost focus of keeping it stable and it would fall apart. He needed to control it long enough to put in more power, each time he tried each time he got a bit closer. Currently he was trying again and he thought that for one moment a small break might happen but then the chakra ran out. He scowled as he glared at the ball as though it was personally offending him.

He had to keep putting in more and more chakra but to keep the spinning motion as well was hard for him.

"Okay, one more try." He muttered to himself.

In the trees watching them Jiraiya smiled seeing them, he noticed that Sakura was out first, he wasn't surprised as her chakra levels weren't on par with the boys, but he did notice she lasted a least an hour longer this time. He had been hidden in the woods for the best couple of hours watching them and seeing how they were doing. He might have to give a few hints if they couldn't break through the walls they were up against.

Personally, he felt that a person really could only truly learn by doing it and learning it yourself. Every mistake you made only added up to the experience you could gain, at least that's what he liked to say and it wasn't exactly a lie. But he couldn't be in two places at once, the town they were near he had picked up a trace of his teammate. It had taken some time and some persuasion on a few men that had apparently loaned her money that she hadn't paid back.

In the end he had ended up paying for Tsunade's dept but at least he gained some information out of it. He had a better idea of where she was heading now. She usually had certain patterns that he found over the years, after all no one knew her like he did. Plus he knew the few cities and towns she wouldn't dare show her face, not after some unpleasantness, usually her getting angry and that temper of her causing trouble.

Jiraiya grinned remembering that one day he found a casino being rebuilt, when he had seen the roulette table imbedded into the ceiling he had known who it had been. Apparently she had caught casino cheating and had taken it personally.

Looking at his students he decided now was enough, if they pushed themselves too hard they wouldn't be able to move tomorrow morning. Walking into the small clearing he clapped his hands getting their attention. "Alright, that's enough tonight, we're going to have to break camp in the morning and get on the road again. I got a decent lead and we have to hurry before she runs again."

"How often does she run?" Sakura asked rolling onto her stomach and got into a kneeling position. She really didn't feel like getting up but the prospect of sleep she would crawl to her bed roll if she had to.

"Seems like a lot to me," Naruto muttered throwing the ball into the small pile. "So when are you going to help with our training? We've been working hard but you're always gone."

"Hey I'm a busy man after all," Jiraiya told him.

Naruto gave him a suspicious look, "You're not goofing off looking at women or going to those strange places with the oddly dressed women again are you?"

Jiraiya tried to hide his reaction to that, so maybe he liked to indulge a bit, he was entitled to a little time to himself after all. Plus those bars with the women were nice places to gather information as a lot of men went there to blow off steam. A few drinks with a good woman under your arm could loosen the tongues of a lot of men. So if he enjoyed himself while he was working well, that should be a problem then should it?

Unfortunately the kids had learned fast to keep their own money safely out of sight so Jiraiya had to use his own funds. It wasn't a major problem, but it was a huge pain to fill out all those expense claims and justify his expenses.

"Look we got an early day so get some sleep and tomorrow we'll be hitting the road again." Jiraiya tried to deflect the boy's accusation. "If you're quick maybe I'll give you some hints on how to improve."

The he found had a magic all its own as the kids silently started to shuffle to their tents. There were three tents in the area, one for Jiraiya himself, two for the boys and obviously one for Sakura herself. As he watched them go he decided to start on a small fire, in the campfire they had. They already ate but it would help deal with any animals in the area. Plus he had this feeling that they were being watching for some time now.

With the fire he could use that as a distraction while he searched the woods while the kids got some sleep.

Sakura noticed that Sasuke's hand had to be bothering him more than normal.

"I have something for that if you want it." She offered.

"It's fine."

"It's not fine you can't even make a fist can you?" she told him and his silence told her as much. She sighed as she wondered why all boys had to be like this. "Look just wait I got something that might help and if you can use your hand the next day then it's worth it right?"

Sasuke paused and considered it, his hand was bothering him and he didn't like that he couldn't really use it. He nodded his head as he watched their teammate walk into her tent and soon come back out with a small circular box.

"Hey that looks like the kind of thing Hinata-chan puts her creams and ointments in." Naruto said as he noticed the small thing Sakura was carrying.

"Yeah I learned a bit from her about this from that month long training with her," Sakura told them as she pulled open the top to show a light green ointment. "Pull off your glove."

Sasuke using his left hand did that as he tried not to wince at the pain he felt from it. Sakura lightly put it on the slight burn she could see on the palm of his hand. Sasuke noticed it right away as the ointment felt cool on his skin and the pain was slowly fading.

"It's got some healing properties but also has an agent in it that numbs the body slightly. You should put this on your hand every day until it's better," she told him as she finished putting it on.

"Thanks," Sasuke was truly thankful at least with this he should be able to sleep tonight without the throbbing pain keeping him awake. He was surprised she had this on her but it was good that she did.

Naruto smiled at Sakura, "Hey that's good to have it's a good thing you brought that with you."

"Yeah well, you two always end up getting hurt the most so I had learned to get this kind of stuff with me from now on. Honestly you two sometimes worry me."

"Hey I'm not that bad, at least not as bad as Sasuke," Naruto frowned.

"What do you mean as bad as me? You've been in the hospital more times than I ever have." Sasuke told him.

"Those were unavoidable!"

"I don't see the difference," Sasuke told him deadpan as he walked to his tent.

"Hey wait up you bastard, let me finish!" Naruto went after him.

Sakura only smiled at the two of them bickered over what counted as being put into the hospital but she felt that Naruto would lose this argument. But it was a good sign to her, with those two like that it meant that they were in good spirits. This had been a long week and she knew that Naruto was disappointed that he wasn't with Hinata or with his dad after not seeing them for over a month.

Sakura went into her tent as she pulled off her skirt and jacket, she debated just falling asleep as it, the ninja mesh she wore from Anko could be used to sleep in, even Anko admitted to having done this from time to time. Sakura just didn't care at that moment and hit her sleeping bag. She could still hear Naruto and Sasuke arguing as she slowly started to fall asleep.

**-Near Konoha-**

Two travelers were on one of the main roads that led to Konoha, mainly used by either merchants or ninja returning from a mission. The two tall men wore black cloaks with red clouds on them as they slowly made their way to one of the five great villages. These two were part of Akatsuki, a group of ninja made up of missing nin, they were criminals for hire, mercenaries that were paid to do dirty deeps that others needed to be done but couldn't pull off and didn't care who or how it was done.

For years they had silently been working in all the ninja lands but today was different for this two man team. They were Itachi Uchiha, the name fear and revolted in Konoha for the mass murder of his own clan. With him was another man of equal standing, this blue skinned shark featured killer was Kisame Hoshigaki the Monster of the Hidden Mist and one of the current Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

"So you going to see home again huh?" Kisame asked his partner for the last few years.

"It won't be much of a home coming," Itachi said in an even tone hardly showing any emotion at all. "I severed all ties with that village a long time ago."

"Yeah killing your entire clan, all the women and children too, and they call me a monster," Kisame chuckled. "I have to say that impresses me, not many have the stomach for that."

"They were all weak," Itachi told him. "I watched the Uchiha falling into being too lax on their training and also relying too much on the sharingan to do all the work."

"Yeah but you use it a lot too," Kisame had seen his partner use his eyes many times.

"I have my reasons for that," Itachi didn't tell anyone that his vision was slowly going. When he didn't have his sharingan activated the world look blurry in the distance. He found this out a few years ago when he had to strain to see things in the distance that he didn't have to before. It turns out that when he gained his new level of sharingan, it came at a cost. He was losing his eyes but thankfully the one that told him about this new level also told him of a way around it.

When he had met the leader of the Akatsuki years ago and was told the true power that could be unlocked he had went with it. Of course maybe he should say the figure head leader Itachi had known that Pain wasn't their true leader but the man behind the shadows. It only made sense after all, only another Uchiha should have known the secrets of the sharingan. He had learned much and Itachi was thankful that he had spared Sasuke, soon it would be time to see who was stronger to see who had the right to rebuild the Uchiha.

Itachi believed in strength, in the strength of yourself but Sasuke was slightly different. He always felt that maybe Sasuke could be more than he was. Although the reason for this trip to Konoha was because of orders he had his own reasons.

Pain had heard of the attack and this was the perfect time to get into Konoha, they were busy with rebuilding and with mission, their security could also suffer from it. Although they would be on higher alert they couldn't have the man power they would need for it. Not only that, but Itachi from his years in ANBU knew secret ways through Konoha's defences that most of the ninja and villagers didn't even know about. Thos secret little ways in that people like Orochimaru and Danzo and his ROOT people often used.

They would be overlooked and so they could slip in that way.

With Konoha like this it was perfect chance to see if they could grab the Kyuubi boy, if they could attain him this early in the game then it would save them time later on. This would be their only chance for an opportunity this good, another might take years to come along.

Plus while he was here, maybe he would look up on his little brother and see how he was coming alone. If Sasuke had given into hate, he would be going down the path of their clan had been going. He would be their will and Itachi would show that the iron will of discipline and emotionless was the only path to true strength and power. If Sasuke could win then Itachi would know that his way had been wrong but he didn't feel that he was. Sasuke would lose and Itachi would gain the eyes he needed to rebuild the Uchiha in a new way.

He would totally erase them from the past and start over and his brother would be used to test that fate out. It was only fitting after all that the last two Uchiha would fight it out to see who would rebuild the Uchiha clan and in what image.

'_Well there is one other Uchiha,'_ Itachi thought to himself as they walked a path he hadn't walked in many years. _'But with Sasuke's eyes I will be able to take him, I don't know what his full plan is but it can't be as simple as gathering all the Tailed Beasts, there has to be something more. Whatever it is, it will be a race to see who can complete their plan first.'_

Itachi knew that the best way was to sabotage it but with Kisame here he couldn't really do that, not only that but he needed to know what the full plan was and that was to keep going along with it until he could figure it out. Besides even if they caught this boy, there were still plenty others they had to cautiously get. Some were very well protected or even connected to current rulers, they had to be careful as they have always been.

"So you think we'll have any trouble finding the kid?" Kisame asked his partner.

"Hard to say but I know who to ask for his whereabouts."

"Oh, and who is that?"

"The boy's father and sensei," Itachi simply said.

**Next up Chapter 5: The Hunt is On**

**Keep in mind that when I started the first story, Itachi was still a villain in the series, so I decided to keep him a villain as I feel it makes him more interesting. **


	5. The Hunt is On

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 5: The Hunt is On**

**-Konoha-**

Anko had to admit that despite things with the Sand and Sound at the chunin exams, things were slowly getting better. The village rebuilding was going nice, although you could still see black ribbons on some stores or windows. Those were signs of those that lost someone that everyone in the village knew what it meant it wasn't just for morning but also to show the sacrifices some families made and should be honoured and respected.

Her own apartment was fixed up, although she still stayed over at Kakashi's place. It was bigger after all and with Naruto gone they could have the whole place to themselves. She actually kept a few things over at his place after her apartment was fixed just in case she needed them. It was odd, she never really considered ever getting serious about anyone. No one had seemed like the right guy to her but with Kakashi, well things seemed more natural to her.

They had fun, enjoyed a lot of the same things, he was laid back but he was serious when he had to be, the training she did with him in the mornings showed that he took to being a ninja was serious. She was even learning a few new things as well. He had his secret side that he showed no one, well no one but herself at least as she returned that.

At first she felt that it was just friendship she had with him, then a bit of lust years later but now, now she was really thinking this was what love felt like. She looked forward to seeing him, missed him when he was gone, oh sure she got pissed at him sometimes. Like that annoying habit of picking his toe nails when he was barefoot or never putting the seat down when she was over. Seriously why couldn't he remember that one little thing?

At any rate life was good she figured, currently she was walking down the streets, eating the last stick of dango that she bought, her other arm linked in Kakashi's as he was reading one of his books with his free hand. She had to admit that they must have made for an interesting pair walking down the streets.

"Oh look what we got here," Anko smirked.

"Asuma and Kurenai huh," Kakashi said not taking his eyes off the book.

Anko looked up at him, "Okay one of these days you'll have to tell me how you can know what's around you while reading that thing, you only got the one normal eye."

"Maybe one day I'll tell you," she knew he was smirking under his mask, knowing him for so long she could tell the small shifts and folds in the mask to tell by now.

Anko looked ahead as she grinned mischievously, "Want to mess with them?"

"You really want to mess with two of our closest friends for the simple enjoyment of watching them get embarrassed simply because they seem to be taking their time in realizing what's between them?"

"I take it you're in then?"

"Of course," He put his book away as she tried not to smile too much. She loved how he loved picking on those two as much as she did it was just so much fun winding them up, especially Kurenai. Honestly the woman obviously had a thing for Asuma so why not just go out there? When Anko realized that she liked Kakashi more than a friend she had started her plans to seduce the man, which had worked. Hell she figured Asuma was interesting and would be more interested if she showed some kind of sign.

Who said that men had to make the first move after all?

"Ah look who we have here," Asuma smiled with his hands in his pockets and a small cigarette in his mouth. It was unlit as Kurenai never really cared for smoking, both Kakashi and Anko wondered if he even noticed that he didn't smoke around Kurenai.

"Konoha's most talked about couple," Kurenai smirked.

Anko rolled her eyes, "Yeah right we're not all that talked about. There have to be more interesting couples than us."

"Not really," Kurenai shrugged. "At least not as colourful as you two are."

"True but looks like we might have competition," Kakashi said as Anko tried her hardest to keep her poker face she could lie like the best of them at times but damn Kakashi took it to an art form.

Both Kurenai and Asuma gave them blank looks, Anko took it from there.

"Well you two are on a date together aren't you?"

Oh the expression on their faces was priceless, Asuma coughed out as Kurenai blush as she looked away. Before they could deny it Kakashi jumped in to take the next shot.

"Well it's about time, I think people were wondering about when you two would start dating, I mean they've been talking for awhile now." Kakashi said with a shrug in his usual laid back attitude.

"Cool, hey Kurenai does this mean we can double date? Never tried that before but it might be fun." Anko gave a giant fake smile.

"People talk about us?" Asuma paused as he looked to Kurenai, he saw the red eyed woman lock her gaze with him and her face got a bit redder as she tried to hide her face from view. He had to admit she was a very beautiful young woman and they did get along. He just didn't think she wanted anymore more out of it.

Kurenai however glared at the a couple in front of her, Anko was bad enough on her own but when Kakashi joined in they were evil. She could feel the heat in her face and was tempted to pull out a genjustu but thanks to Kakashi's sharingan it might be useless anyway. Oh she would get them back for this she vowed that much. Kurenai could feel Asuma's eyes on her and it only made things worse, yes there was just something about the man that she liked but they were friends, professionals...plus what if he said he didn't feel the same way?

Kakashi was amused at the sight of the two of them, was that how he and Anko had been like? No, he was pretty sure they were slightly different, Anko he knew had actually gave him signals to go for it and he didn't regret it at all. She really made his life more full, he hadn't felt like this since he had been raising Naruto. Sure at first it had been hard but there had been moment that made it all worth it.

The times he took his first step, first words, first day of school and how excited he had been. Moments like that had filled his life with great moments and he knew they weren't ending. But with Anko, those moments seemed to be coming around again. He was enjoying the day until he caught something in his vision.

In the tea house on their left there were two men in strange clothing sitting down with straw hats on, just from their clothing and demeanour he could tell that they weren't travelers or from the village. They were too tense, too on alert and he could smell something was off on them. His nose might not be powerful like the Inuzuka clan but he could smell the strange scent of fish, ocean, blood from one of them. Also he could picked up a bad feeling about them, years of battle experience he could feel something was wrong with these two.

Plus they were trying too hard to blend in, they weren't talking or looking around, they were trying to avoid being seen. It would have worked on most but in a village of ninja this was a huge risk. Whoever they were he wanted to know and it might be best to get some reinforcements too.

"Well we shouldn't be keeping you two, after all you two have someone to meet." Kakashi told them.

There was a brief moment of confusion between the three of them before they noticed how tense Kakashi seemed. For a moment Kakashi was hoping that they might not noticed but soon they got their guards up and noticed what he had noticed. All three sets of eyes flashed to the two men sitting there.

"I guess you're right, by the way do you know what that meeting later today will be about?" Asuma asked.

Kakashi shrugged, "Not sure, although it could be about Sasuke." Kakashi noticed the slight twitch in one of the men, he had a theory as to who one of them might be but he still wasn't certain.

"Well, we will get going we don't want to be late," Kurenai said as both she and Asuma quickly vanished.

"I think that's our signal to continue on."

"Good," Anko smiled taking his arm. "Because now that we're alone let's go find some fun for just us."

As Kakashi and Anko, the two black figures waited before leaving their drinks and moving on silently, as moved through the village. They were passing by one of the streams of water that feed through the village when Asuma and Kurenai leaped out of nowhere in front of them. The two men stopped without a word.

"Well looks like Kakashi was right about these two being up to something," Asuma mused to Kurenai and then looked at the two men. "Alright what are you two doing in this village? Identify yourselves right now."

"Looks like the jig is up," The taller one said as he took off his hat to show a blue shark face under it. He was grinning with sharp shark like teeth with eyes that looked like they hungered for blood.

"Yes it would seem so," The other said as he pulled his own hat off his sharingan eyes showing to both Leaf ninja. Itachi's Konoha forehead protector with the gash slashed through it showing who he was.

"You!" Kurenai's eyes widened, it was obviously Itachi Uchiha there was no mistake about it. He looked so very much like Sasuke and those eyes, those were definitely sharingan eyes.

"Itachi Uchiha," Asuma said as he got his trench knives ready, this was not some simple infiltration mission by another village. This was serious, Itachi was a prodigy at such a young age and the fact he killed an entire clan with the exception of one small boy, you couldn't let his guard down you did and you were dead. He watched as the young man undid his coat.

"Looks like they still know of you here," Kisame smirked. "then again with your reputation I would be surprised if they didn't."

"And you are?" Kurenai asked.

"Kisame Hoshigaki," Asuma supplied, "Also known as the Monster of the Hidden Mist, one of the former Seven Swordsmen."

"You make is sound like since I'm not part of that group anymore that my skills aren't still as sharp," Kisame was slightly annoyed that the woman hadn't known who he was but he wanted a piece of the beard guy first. The man had blades of his own and he could feel the need to use Samehada on this man. He pulled the large bandaged sword off his back as he got into a fighting stance.

"Be quick Kisame," Itachi told him. "We have to hurry and nothing too flashy, we don't want to draw too much attention."

"Fine then," Kisame nodded and dashed forward towards Asuma.

Asuma managed to dodge the large object he figured it was a sword of some kind but being all wrapped up like that it couldn't hurt too much. He planned to get in under the attack and with his knives try to counter attack. What he didn't know was that the sword Samehada wasn't a blade that slashed or stabbed, it was a sword that shaved the flesh away. He noticed the bandages somehow coming off the tip as Kisame pulled back.

The sharp pain in his arm like something was trying to claw away at his arm to the bone. He managed one slash of his own before pulling back the stinging pain told him that he was bloodied but not too bad. He could still move the arm but looking at the tip of the sword it was a nasty looking thing. It looked like nothing but sharp teeth in the form of a sword.

"Huh?" Kisame noticed the slight sting on the side of his face. There was a slight cut there but he was sure he pulled back in time to avoid the attack. Then he noticed the chakra on the blades, they gave the man a slightly longer reach with the weapons. He only grinned at that, it was a nice trick that could have killed you if you weren't fast enough to pull away the first time it happened.

Kurenai formed hand seals as it looked like she was up against Itachi. She seemed to fade away into the wind from one of her genjutsus. Itachi just stay motionless as though he wasn't concerned at all, which he wasn't. Slowly a tree appeared to grow behind him, branches coming out and wrapping around him. This was the Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death, a very old jutsu that was passed on since the creation of the village. Kurenai seemed to come out of the top of the trunk as though she was coming out of water, a kunai in hand.

She was going for the kill, she had always heard the rumors of Itachi and she had always wondered what kind of ninja he was but that fact that she caught him off guard was a source of pride for her. She went in for the kill when suddenly she found herself trapped in her own illusion looking at Itachi.

'_What?__ A__ counter __illusion, __when__ did __he __do __that!__'_ Her mind frantically tried to come up with an answer. This man was beyond her skills, she knew that now. She saw him pull a kunai of his own as he readied to kill her. She thought it had been too easy and the passive look on his face told all, this was nothing for him. It hurt her pride slightly, she was one of Konoha's best genjustu user, in fact she wanted to be the best but this man had blow away her skills as though they were nothing and also sent the same one back at her.

This man was frightening good. She quickly bit down on her lips hard enough to draw blood, hoping the shock to her system would knock out the genjutsu. She quickly found the tree gone as she jumped back to get out of range of the kunai and hoped for a slight breather to gather her next attack. But Itachi was too quick, she saw the kick coming but she knew that she wouldn't be able to dodge it. Raising up a hand to defend she took the hit but the power behind it was amazing.

She cried out as the kick sent her over the railing and she soon found herself over the water, gathering chakra into her feet she landed on the water.

"Not bad taking that hit," Itachi's voice suddenly said behind her. Her eyes widened as she spun around shocked by his speed. She wasn't even aware that he had moved and yet he was now behind her. "But unfortunately for you..."

"This is the end for you," a new voice said behind Itachi as both Itachi and Kurenai saw Kakashi standing there behind them both.

"Kurenai!" Asuma shouted out as he saw her in trouble.

"You shouldn't look away," Kisame chuckled as Asuma took his sight back to his opponent. He knew that was a rookie mistake but he had been too worried about her, if Kisame had attacked he would have been wide open.

Kisame brought up his sword and suddenly turned around to block the fireball that came at him from behind. The Akatsuki member leapt back to get into a better position seeing Anko arrive.

"Damn it, I thought I had him," She huffed she had tried really hard to sneak up behind him. "Hey Asuma I can't believe you let this guy get such a hit on you like that, that arm any good?"

"Good enough although what kept you two?" He replied with a grin.

"You'd think flagging down an ANBU and getting him to bring reinforcements would have been easy, damn guys are tricky to track down when you actually need them." She sighed.

Itachi heard this and knew that although Kakashi behind him now had a kunai poised against his neck if this dragged on any longer they would be in real trouble. Sure he had killed his entire clan but that had been from surprise as he had silently done it. This was going to get busy and with an entire village of ninja alert and out for them it wouldn't be pretty. It looks like he might get more complicated then expected.

"Well let's get this party started then," Anko smirked as she flung out her arm and under it dozens of snakes shot out from only she knew where. They snakes reached out impossibly long as their venom fangs were ready for action.

Kisame only grinned as with one swipe of his massive sword he slashed them away. He was also ready for when Asuma jumped in, as he was using Anko's opening move as a distraction. Kisame twisted around and with his left leg kick hard behind him as he felt the impact against Asuma. The leaf ninja to his credit saw the blow coming and managed to get his arm up just in time to block. But the kick was insanely strong as Asuma felt himself pushed back from the force of it. He ducked and jumped back from the follow up attack of the giant sword.

Kisame decided to take it up a notch as his hand flew with blinding speed into several hand seals.

"Water release: Shark bullet jutsu." The former Mist ninja said as water started to form into spinning pillars from the steam as they went for his two opponents. He was surprised however when the same jutsu was used at the same moment and cancelled out his move.

"What the hell?" Kisame noticed that there was a new Kakashi standing with them. He looked at that one and noticed that there was still one on the water with Itachi_.__ '__Bastard __copied__ my __jutsu__ already.__But__ is __that __a__ shadow __clone__ or __the __real __one?__When __did __he__ even __do __that?__'_

Anko looked at the Kakashi next to her, even she was surprised he had switched out with a clone already, at least she thought he had switched out she wasn't too sure. "I could have handled that you know." She told him.

"I know but just call me overprotective, besides we can't screw around with these two just in case." Kakashi told her not taking his eyes off Kisame.

Over with Itachi he had seen all of this and was a bit impressed with the man, well two could play it that game. He looked at the Kakashi in front of him on the water and with a sudden move he had shurikens in his hand but this was just the faint. The real attack would be his own water attack, but to his surprise Kakashi jumped back with a word of warning to Kurenai as he put up a water barrier around himself.

When the water came down, Kakashi soon found another Itachi waiting for him from behind, a kunai already ready at the neck and ready to strike.

"Impressive, although you aren't an Uchiha you've mastered the use of the sharingan that so few of my clan could have. You don't just relay on its power but use it to enhance your skills as it was meant to be used. It's a pity my clan couldn't learn from your example but they were weak, full of fear and bitterness." Itachi said with still no emotion showing in his voice. "Isn't it true that my own father once petitioned to have that eye of yours removed?"

Kakashi did know about that but the Fourth had supported Kakashi as the sharingan would still stay within the village. Some of the Uchiha hadn't taken well to that but at the time Kakashi hadn't cared. "So what are you here for? Is this about Sasuke then?"

"No although I am interested in his development," Itachi told him. "But we're here for something bigger, tell me Kakashi, where is the Legacy of the Fourth?"

Asuma and Kurenai were confused but Anko who knew the full story looked to Kakashi in the water and saw his reaction to know what Itachi was talking about. For Kakashi his eyes widened but soon narrowed. They were after Naruto, after his own son and Kakashi felt a cold fury that he hadn't felt in years slowly rise up out of him. He controlled it but he was close to letting loose on this man, threatening his son was not something you did.

"You'll never find out from me," Kakashi's form on the river suddenly turned to water and fell. Kisame was surprised to see a water clone, apparently his village had lost one of their unique jutsus, well it wasn't like he cared about that place anymore. He watched as Kakashi's real form was under the water as it gave the woman a weapon. Suddenly he jumped out grabbing the woman as the Itachi close to them exploded.

Kisame was surprised the man knew that it was not only a shadow clone but an exploding one, now he had a pretty good idea who the clone and who the real Kakashi was and the one he was facing was the clone. He rushed forward using the explosion as a distraction sweeping his sword in a wide arc. They jumped back of course which was what he was counting on as with his free hand he threw a kunai at the fake Kakashi before the clone couldn't change direction in mid air. The kunai struck dispelling the clone as Anko and Asuma landed on the water next to the real Kakashi.

Kisame grinned at how all the little ducks were lined up. With a blur he disappeared and reappeared next to his partner. "So how much time do you figure we got?"

"Not long unfortunately," Itachi looked at them all. "It looks like I won't be able to hold back on using 'that' on them."

Kakashi's eye widen as he had a feeling what Itachi was going to use, he had only heard stories but it there were stories of a more powerful version of the sharingan. "Everyone close your eyes!"

"What?" Asuma looked to his friend.

"Are you insane?" Anko yelled at him. "Why the hell would we do that? We can take them there are four of us and only two of them."

"Anko please do it now!" Kakashi yelled at her and for the first time Anko felt like she was struck by how Kakashi said it. He had never yelled at her before so whatever it was had to be serious. She didn't like this though, in fact she was comfortable with hating every single part of it. But she trusted Kakashi and she would put her life in his hands if he asked it.

The three leaf ninja closed their eyes as Kakashi closed his original, leaving his sharingan open, it was his only chance against what might be coming. He would die to protect his son but he also if he could take Itachi down. Jiraiya had told him about the Akatsuki before he had left with Naruto and the others, he knew what they were after, and that his son was in danger. If possible he would take them down with him, as a father it was his duty. Plus he had three others right here to protect if he could.

Kakashi watched as Itachi's eyes changed, as the sharingan turned into what looked like a three pointed shuriken. This had to be the Mangekyo sharingan that he had only heard about, this was something that he bet hardly anyone had seen.

"Let's see if you can survive this," Itachi told him as he locked eyes with Kakashi.

Suddenly Kakashi felt himself pulled by a strong force almost like his someone was reaching inside of him and pulling him inside and out. He blanked out, coming around Kakashi found himself in some strange world. The place was all red and he soon found himself on a wooden cross, he tested the bonds and he was surprised to find how real everything felt. He knew it wasn't but this was the most realistic feeling genjutsu he had ever felt.

Normally a genjutsu would appear to be more like real life to help confuse a person but for this one it was so powerful that he figured it didn't have to even try to look like the real world. He had already tried the usual methods to trying to break free of a genjustu but so far nothing was working.

"Welcome to the world of the Tsukuyomi," Itachi said to him as he seemed to appear out of nowhere. He looked strange, almost like a photo negative version of himself to Kakashi. "In this world I control everything you will tell me where the boy is."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed at the young man, "Doubt it."

"If you say so," Itachi pulled out a sword and ran it through Kakashi's body.

Kakashi cried out feeling the cold metal as it sliced through his body, he had felt enough wounds in his life to know the feeling of cold metal going into the body. It really did feel real as suddenly he was fine. Looking down he saw the wound was gone. Itachi appeared again and once more the sword went into his body. This would happen over and over again as Itachi explained how he would feel this for three days.

Suddenly he felt like he was living the same moment over and over again, he saw many different version so of himself with many version of Itachi. Somehow Kakashi was experiencing everything they did all at the same time. It was like how a shadow clone worked only in real time. Time seemed to stretch out as nothing but the same pain over and over again, like his whole world was being engulfed by pain.

**-One Day, Three Hours and twenty-two minutes later-**

How long had he been here? Kakashi couldn't know anymore, everything blended together now. It was hard to think straight, so much pain for so long it felt like he had lived like this for his entire life, that he was born into life of nothing but pain and suffering.

How many stabs? How many cries of agony had been torn from his lungs?

All the pain in his life didn't add up to this, it was tearing down his mind, his soul, he felt like he was holding onto his identity by bloody finger tips and if he let go he would call into a black abyss as his mind was totally destroyed. But something kept him going, something kept him strong enough to keep hold. His son, his team, his friends, Anko...they were all out there. He kept hold of that thought, kept it as close to his heart as possible to help him give him the strength.

He wanted to just let go so many times, to just let it go and end it all but those thoughts kept him going, they were the only thing keeping him going.

"I'm surprised you've lasted this long," Itachi told him. "We still have a couple of days together, maybe we can try something else to help loosen your tongue."

Kakashi weakly raised his head not sure what he was getting at, the only thing he knew was that this was the first break he had from his torture since this began.

"Kakashi, where am I?"

Kakashi's head snapped up as he saw Anko there across from him in the same position he was in. It couldn't be the real Anko, it just couldn't. It had to be a trick, she wasn't here, she was outside of this place.

"Kakashi what's going on?" Anko asked him looking around. "I was waiting for you to tell us what to do next."

"Anko?" Kakashi asked weakly.

"I couldn't help it," Anko told him. "I opened my eyes it was just for a second."

"A second was all I needed." Itachi appeared and thrust the sword into Anko's body. She screamed out as Kakashi was forced to watch the woman across him being stabbed. Kakashi tried to struggle, he yelled at him to stop and cursed at him. She cried out again and again as he was forced to watch him slowly kill her. Part of him hoped it was just a trick but she was too real, thoughts of Rin and Obito and how he couldn't save them flooded his mind.

Over and over it happened, Itachi would switch between them. Anko begged for it to stop, for Kakashi to do something, anything to stop it. Kakashi had thought that it couldn't have gotten any worse but it had.

**-A few seconds later (Real Time)-**

"Kakashi what's going on?" Anko asked he had said to close their eyes, Itachi said something and now Kakashi was silent the entire time. "Kakashi?"

She asked again not liking at all that he wasn't saying anything.

Kakashi looked around and for a moment he wasn't sure if he was out or if this was just a new level of torture. To let him think he was out and then pull the rug out from under him and start it all over again. He felt like hell, in fact he was pretty sure he had just gone through the closest thing to hell that a person that was still living through could have gone through.

"Impressive, you're not only still with us but were able to hold on for the full time," Itachi told him. "Your reputation is well deserved but every man has their breaking point. Tell us where the boy is or else I'll put your friends through it as well, and trust me, they won't survive the experience."

For a brief moment Kakashi actually thought about it, how could he put anyone through that, plus Anko was here. Here could still hear her screaming in his ears. He bit down hard on his lip to cause it to bleed. In the end he couldn't tell him anything, he couldn't abandon Naruto. He may not be his son by blood but he was his son in all the ways that really mattered.

"I won't tell you anything," Kakashi said as the world seemed to swim around him. His vision was blurred as the final thing he saw was the water rushing to his face.

Anko heard the body hit the water and she just knew that something horrible had happened. Although Kakashi told them not to open their eyes she couldn't help it. She did and saw Kakashi sinking into the water. She cried out as she rushed over to him, she pulled him up so that he wouldn't drown. She shook him a few times calling out his name but he was completely out cold.

Anko had no idea what that bastard had done to him but Kakashi was in a bad way but she didn't see any wounds on him.

"Aw look at that," Kisame chuckled. "Maybe I should end them together and make it all poetic."

Kisame readied his sword when a slash landed between the two groups.

"Now what is it?" Kisame said getting slightly annoyed as a new figure appeared.

"It is I, the Noble Green Beast of Konoha, the one and only Maito Gai." The green clad warrior spoke to them. "Everyone open your eyes."

"What?" Asuma asked him.

"Kakashi told us not to open our eyes." Kurenai told him.

"It's okay," Gai said full of confidence. "Just look at their feet, I've trained with Kakashi for so long I found that fighting someone with the sharingan is to not look at their eyes. So I focused on the feet, you can tell what a person does by now they use their feet."

"Okay if you say so," Asuma opened his eyes with Kurenai as they looked at the feet. "Although it's not as easy as you said Gai, you've actually got training in this."

"I know but I saw the ANBU gathering up, so we only have to delay them for a few minutes." Gai cast a look to Anko holding up Kakashi. "Anko take Kakashi to the hospital, we can handle things here."

Anko looked torn between helping them and getting Kakashi help, she was really worried about his condition there just wasn't anything normal about it.

Itachi narrowed his eyes, things were getting too complicated now. But one thing was for certain, the boy wasn't in the village. They had already searched the place and not only that, when someone was worried about someone their eyes would unconscious look to wherever they were. Even if he had no idea where the boy was in the village his eyes would have shifted even slightly to where he thought he was. His sharingan would have picked up on the slight movement.

But there was none, one reason why the boy might not be in the village as Kakashi had no idea where he was. They had already had time to search the village with no sign plus the fact that there were rumors of Jiraiya in the area. There could be the possibility that they would have given the boy to him to protect, it was a long shot but the bottom line was that they couldn't stay here.

"Looks like it's time to go," Itachi told his partner. "We can't linger any longer."

Kisame scowled a bit, "They got off lucky then, well I'll remember this as unfinished then."

With that the two of them suddenly vanished from sight using a high level jutsu to escape the area.

Sometime later on the same main road leading away from the village the two Akatsuki members were walking as though they hadn't just infiltrated a major ninja village and caused trouble there. Itachi rubbed his eyes, his vision was blurred ever since he had used that technique on Kakashi. When he first gained this new power it had been amazing but he soon found the drawbacks he had been warned about were getting worse.

Over the last year he had started taking medication to help keep his eyes from deteriorating too much but he could only slow the progress. At this rate he might be totally blind in three years, four at the most if he tried not to use his eyes too much.

"You okay?" Kisame asked seeing his partner.

"I'll be fine," Itachi told him looking ahead of him. They still had a job to do he had a few ideas of who they could ask if anyone had seen the boy leave the village. If he really had left they would find his trail and if they couldn't find him, well they still had plenty of time. Besides they had other targets they could track down and they knew where the boy would return to eventually as well. In the end nothing had really changed for them.

**-Elsewhere-**

A ninja moved through the woods as he kept his distance from the group he had been shadowing. The man wore the standard clothing for someone from the Sound village as he had been one of the scouts sent to look for Jiraiya. Two days ago he had picked up the trail and he had also figured out which town they were heading to.

It wasn't an easy task, he had been very careful to keep his distance after all Jiraiya the Sannin was not someone you underestimated. Crouching down behind a tree he pulled out a scroll, he opened it and put it on the ground. Next he took a kunai and made a small cut on his thumb and ran the blood against the summoning seal.

There was a small puff of smoke as a snake summons appeared.

He took his report out and placed it on the paper with the snake. "Take this directly to Lord Orochimaru, he's waiting for this."

The snake coiled around the report and disappeared with it, this was a very effect way for Orochimaru's spies operated. All reports went through his summons for speed and security as they would only take them directly to Orochimaru.

The job done he replaced the scroll and the scout was about to move back to his small camp when he felt something metal and sharp pressed against his neck.

"Nice night out isn't it?" Jiraiya asked him.

"How did you!"

"Oh please I knew we were being followed," Jiraiya really wish people would at least try a bit harder when following him. Was it his age that people thought they could get this close and he wouldn't notice it? At any rate it looked like he had found the little scout of his old teammate that had been shadowing them. "Now do you mind telling me why my 'old friend' seems to be very interested in where I'm going?"

The man considered his options, he knew that the Sannin before him would do all kinds of things to get the information out but if Orochimaru ever found out that he was caught and not only that, but talked, well there really wasn't much choice. Without hesitation he grabbed Jiraiya's wrist and thrust his whole body into the blade.

Jiraiya hadn't expected the man to literally throw himself into the kunai, he tried to let go of it but it was already too late. It went into the man's neck as the blood pumped out from hitting the main artery. Jiraiya cursed knowing the man was dead within minutes but he had no way to save him for interrogation. He signed at the missed opportunity as the man's body on the ground slowly started to stop moving.

On the one hand he was glad for no one shadowing them anymore but on the other he wanted to know if this man had reported back to Orochimaru. Well nothing to be done now but he would have to be more on guard now. There was no telling what his old teammate would be up to, plus he was certain that he was close to Tsunade now. With luck he might have tracked her down and drag her back to Konoha, even if he had to tie her up to do it.

He paused at that mental image of her tied up in rope, a perverted grin on his face. _'__Oh__ that__'__s __a __good__ one, __I__ got __to __write __that__ down __sometime.__'_ He thought with a perverted chuckle leaving the dead Sound ninja behind. _'__Hopefully__ it __won__'__t __come__ to __that, __if __I __can __convince __her __to __leave __before __Orochimaru__ shows __up __then__ at __least __that __would__ be __something __on__ our __side.__'_

**Next up Chapter 6: Tsunade**

**Damn this should have been out sooner, not sure what happened plus I just got Skyrim today as well. Also for some reason I had to edit the last part of this chapter, because there seems to be a glitch on this site. When you write in italics it takes out all the spacing for some stupid reason. I had to go back into the edit function and replace them all so a warning to everyone else to double check before posting just in case and let the people who run this site know if you experience this glitch.  
**


	6. Tsunade

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 6: Tsunade**

"Are you sure this time that she's here?" Naruto asked nearly groaning out the question. This had been the third possible lead so far and at this rate he was wondering if they would get home by his birthday. Although it was cool learning the rasengan and all but he was missing home, and Hinata too, plus he wasn't sure when Jiraiya was being serious or not. Sometimes he would just disappear and when he got back he sometimes smelled of alcohol and perfume.

"I'm pretty sure this time," Jiraiya told the young blonde. "Last village said she ran out of credit and told me she was seen coming this way. Plus this town has a lot of gambling buildings as well." Although it did take him paying off her dept, honestly how the hell was it possible for someone to rank up that much in gambling? It was a good thing his books sold well in all known countries or else he would never have been able to pay that kind of money off with just his ninja pay. Again, how the hell she racked up such dept for years and people still let her in to gamble knowing she might skip out on them he had no idea.

At any rate he had a good feelings about this place, it was far from the village and yet just close to the boarder of the country. It also had lots of gambling houses of various types one that she hadn't been to in years. Most likely she hadn't come back to this place this long to let any previous debts she had to be long forgotten about. After all given all the years she had been traveling she was bound to run into the same town at least twice

"So what does she look like again?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya sighed. "Didn't I already say what she looked like?"

"Well all you said was that she looked young, with blonde hair and something about a chest you couldn't miss."

Jiraiya grinned at that last line he had to admit there were many features that he remembered about her but everyone came back to that point. Sakura scowled at the pervert in the time she had been with him she had learned quickly that there was a reason why Naruto referred to him only as 'Ero-sennin' all this time. She could see that Sasuke wasn't enjoying this either.

"Why don't you kids get a hotel ready over there" He pointed to a random one. "I'm going to take a quick look around and scout the place out a bit." The man said before leaving them to it.

The three genins sighed in unison as they were left with the task.

"We might as well get this over with," Sasuke said putting his hands in his pockets, mainly to try and take it easy on his hands. They were still bandaged up from the last training he had but he was close to getting it down. Just a little more and he felt he might finally get the control he needed after that, he would work on different ways to use this new lightning techniques.

He already planned to use it with his sword but he was also thinking of smaller things like shurikens and kunai, he was wondering if he could learn to put it into paper bombs making giant electrical explosions instead of the normal ones. It opened up a whole new world of tactics and he would need them. Sasuke cast a look to his teammates, in the month they had been gone they all had been improving.

Naruto was quickly on his way to perfecting that rasengan move even Sasuke had to admit that what he had seen that jutsu would be one hell of an attack when landed. But after learning about Naruto's past he couldn't begrudge him learning it. This was something that was being passed on that his biological father created. It was still odd to think that Kakashi wasn't Naruto's father but that didn't matter. Naruto had lost a family he had never known so for Sasuke who still had memories of his family, this was one of the few things Naruto had of them.

Looking at Sakura he couldn't help how much she had grown, in the academy she had been about average maybe slightly above but after joining Team 7 she had grown. After that training month she had grown even more. She seemed more mature lately, no longer bugging him for dates (although they did have an agreement about that) but now she seemed to really be taking the ninja life more seriously.

Plus she had gotten stronger too he couldn't help but start to think of her in a new light lately. Maybe he should rethink a few other things about her as well. She was a good friend, one of the few that he could say was a friend, a comrade but...well he wasn't sure. Maybe she was more he wasn't sure. He pushed those thoughts aside for now as they entered the hotel.

Little did anyone know that just outside of the village two figures in robes walked into view of the village, they had been traveling for awhile now and were nearing their target.

"The information was correct about this place?" The taller of the two asked.

The companion nodded, "Yes, we should find them here."

"Ah good, it will be nice to see if we can finish all the objectives in one go."

-Not much Later-

A woman in a dark kimono walked the streets of the city, she had an earthly beauty about her, she wouldn't turn heads but she was attractive woman in her late twenties. She had dark eyes with short hair but long bangs as well, with her was a small female pig that wore of all things a small red vest and a pearl necklace.

This was Shizune, the apprentice of Tsunade and currently the woman was looking a little worn out. They had been kicked out of their old hotel because Tsunade took the money for the next two days to gamble. Now Shizune was looking for a slightly cheaper place, it wasn't the first time that her master had that feeling of a 'sure thing' and gambled away on it. But it was hard on Shizune who had to deal with her master's fall out. Although she wouldn't trade her life with Tsunade away for anything, at times she secretly wished her master would return home.

She missed the Leaf village, she missed the forests, the mountain, the villagers everything at times. Sometimes she wondered if Tsunade felt the same but the woman was anything but stubborn. Shizune sighed as she picked a hotel that looked like it was in their new price range. Although she knew that Tsunade had been only running away from her problems, Shizune had to be there for her. If she wasn't then Tsunade would be all alone and she did love the woman as though she were family.

If her uncle Dan hadn't died, Tsunade might have married and become her aunt after all. So despite all the hardships she would be there for her, besides it wasn't all bad and she had learned so much under Tsunade's tutelage. Walking into the hotel she noticed three young children looking like they were making reservations.

At first she thought it strange that kids were alone, then she quickly noticed the ninja gear they had on.

'_Genin?__But__where__is__their__sensei?__Please__don__'__t__tell__me__that__their__sensei__left__them__alone,__'_ Shizune looked around but didn't see anyone that could be their team leader. They were an odd sort, a pink haired girl (which was a rare hair color thinking back she could remember seeing a village woman with that hair before in the Leaf but she couldn't place where) in red clothing and ninja mesh. A blonde (also a bit rare hair color) in a mix of black and orange of all things, the last person was dressed all in black with short dark hair.

"I can't believe Ero-sennin took off like that," The blonde spoke up.

"Not the first time he's done this," the dark haired one crossed his arms.

"Should we go and find them?" The only female of the group asked them. Both boys blushed bright red suddenly at that.

"Hell no!" Both said at the same time.

The girl narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. "Where did you guy's find him last time? Every time it's brought up you blush like this. Was it one of_those_ places again?"

Shizune had no idea who they were talking about but by the sounds of it, she was getting a sinking feeling that whoever it was, he was doing things that she and Tsunade wouldn't approve of.

"I can't believe you dragged me into such a place," The dark boy glared at the other.

"It's not my fault!" The blonde said in defence. "I didn't know what kind of place that was! Besides I got a girlfriend why the hell would I want to go to a place like that? And you better not say anything to Hinata-chan, I don't want her to get the wrong idea about me."

The pink one sighed muttering something about it had been one of _those_ places after all.

Shizune did notice something else, they had on Leaf symbols on them, it was nice to see fellow Leaf ninja even if they were genins that she didn't know. But she couldn't just go over and say hello, after all Tsunade didn't like to attract attention from anyone from the village. So she watched the three argue about whose fault had been what when she felt a presence behind her. She was about to react when a familiar voice caused her to freeze up.

"Long time no see Shizune," Jiraiya spoke up.

Her head whipped around so fast she nearly caused an injury in her neck. Looking up she saw the Toad Sannin himself. "J-Jiraiya-sama?"

"Hey Ero-Sennin!" The blonde yelled out and now a few things were clicking into Shizune's head about the earlier conversation. "I thought we were looking for a blonde woman, so you better not be trying to pick her up."

"Blonde woman..." Shizune looked back to Jiraiya and saw the serious expression on his face. They were here looking for Tsunade there was no other explanation.

Jiraiya nodded as though reading her mind, "She's being called home Shizune, this is an official order that even she can't ignore. Please take us to her."

Shizune was a bit torn, she was loyal to Tsunade but on the other hand she was a Leaf village. If this was an official order she had to help if she could.

Jiraiya placed a calming hand on her shoulder and gave her an assuring smile, "Don't worry I just want to talk and hope she sees reason." He noticed the pained look she was giving him and he knew that it was a long shot about that. Still, he had to try at least and just maybe his little 'ace' up the sleeve might work if all else failed.

"So who is this person anyway?" Sasuke asked him. "You act like she knows exactly where Tsunade is."

"She does," he explained to the genins. "You see this is Shizune, apprentice to Tsunade and pretty much goes wherever she goes. She's also a great medical ninja from what I heard too."

Shizune looked at the three young faces and she had to figure that Jiraiya wouldn't leave her alone until she led them all to Tsunade. Still if there was hope to help bring her master home maybe she should bring them to her. Shizune just hoped that Tsunade wouldn't be too angry with her because of it. She bowed to the three of them as introductions were made.

Now a few things started to click in her head, Sakura's last name of Haruno reminded her of an older woman that was a merchant in the village. Shizune remembered that woman because pink hair was hard to forget, plus the shop always had nice things in it. The dark haired boy was the famed last Uchiha. But the blond when he said he was Naruto Hatake that was odd.

"Wait...Hatake, I knew a Kakashi Hatake in the academy," Shizune remembered the masked boy genius. He had been pretty cold and distant with others. He had also been the star of the class and had been someone that most girls had had crushes on.

"Yeah that's my dad."

"Eh! Since when did Kakashi get married?" Shizune remembered that a girl named Rin had been interested but last she heard before she left the village that girl had gone on a mission and didn't come back.

"He didn't, hey did you know my dad or something?" Naruto asked her honestly interested to hear this.

"Uh well...only in passing," Shizune told him a little nervously. "I was in his class in the academy and I remember seeing him around. We also met up a few times in the last war, wait what do you mean he didn't marry?"

"It's kind of a long story," Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Although he is dating Aunt Anko."

Shizune blinked, as far as she knew Kakashi had no other family, was this aunt from the mother's side of the family? Just how much had she missed out on in all these years away from the village at this point?

"As much as this is interesting," Jiraiya interrupted before this took all day. "We really should get going before it gets too late in the day."

Sakura looked up at the older man, "Why? Will she leave town?"

"No I'm afraid that she might get to start drinking and then she'll be a handful," The man sighed as he saw Shizune wince slightly. The woman knew all too well how bad Tsunade could get at times when she had too much to drink.

Shizune wondered if Tsunade drank to forget or just drank so she had an excuse to act out. Maybe it was a bit of both or maybe this was just her way of trying to bury the pain of her past.

The group soon left the hotel as Shizune still had to make a room and even if this didn't work out she didn't want to walk all over the village some more to find yet another hotel in their range. So after leaving everything in the room and leaving Tonton to the room as the little pig made it known she wanted to rest up. They all made their way to the bar that Tsunade said to meet her at. As they walked in both Shizune and Jiraiya took notice of Tsunade right away.

It was hard to miss the woman who was alone in a booth having starting to drink already. It was also easy for her to stand out. There weren't many beautiful looking young twenty year olds with blonde hair in a grey shirt that showed off some of the most impressive cleavage in the known lands.

"Oh...now I get it," Naruto commented seeing her. "Wait she's supposed to be the same age as you?" He looked at Jiraiya.

"Like I said she's got a henge on herself all the time," He explained to them as they walked over. He could tell that Shizune was nervous after all he knew that Tsunade would not be pleased with the news. Well he might as well make himself a target for Tsunade's anger as repayment for leading them to her. Not like he most likely wouldn't have made her angry eventually anyway.

"Hey there long time no see," Jiraiya smiled broadly as he quickly sat down and placed an arm around her shoulder. She had been so absorbed in her own thoughts she hadn't even noticed him. Then again he usually knew how to surprise her.

"Jiraiya," the single word out of her mouth was full of ice and malice that it would make most men immediately pull away. Well Jiraiya was used to it so he was mostly immune by this point, mostly.

"Now now, don't get like that, I'm here to visit you and I got mail from sensei for you as well." He joked.

Tsunade glared at him for a moment, "Remove the arm or I will, surgically."

Jiraiya did it although he knew she couldn't do that to him, not after the trauma of the war she couldn't stand the sight of blood anymore. However she could and would, break his arm in so many places that only she could put it back together again. So he complied with her as everyone else gathered around.

Tsunade noticed the kids and for a moment paused as she looked at them and quickly back to him. "The hell is this? I thought that you said you would never teach a genin team again, plus weren't you always away from the village to teach?"

"They're just on loan."

"Hey!" Naruto shouted out.

"But they got some hidden talents," the man grinned at them. "A little rough but I've worked with worse."

Tsunade shook her head, "I never thought you wanted to teach again, in fact I remember you saying as much." That had been when they had last met up a few years ago.

She remembered how they ran into each other randomly, they did the usual, they argued, he was a pervert and they ended up drinking and talking about old times again. That night had been a little hazy but she did remember him saying how he would never teach again. That he was tired of his students all dying on him. That was one of the few times she felt for the man, he had lost ever single student he had.

She knew that a couple of them had been really special for Jiraiya she could see their deaths hit him hard. So that fact he had another genin team with him was slightly confusing for her.

His response was just to shrug, "What can I say, there is just something about them. Plus I was wrong, just because you say something doesn't mean that you were right at the time. Besides this might be my last chance to see something interesting grow in the process. Apparently their sensei said that these kids would replace our old team on day."

Tsunade took one look and burst out laughing, leaving three very glaring genins at her.

"These three to replace the Sannin? I know that Orochimaru is no longer around but still, this is ridiculous." She told him after finally stopping her laughter. "So why are you here then, I know it's not just coincidence that you're here."

Jiraiya got a much more serious look on his face as he pulled out a scroll that he carried with him. He placed it on the table so she could see the seal of the Hokage. Tsunade paused in her drink as she saw the seal and quickly drank it down. She glared at the offending piece of paper like it had personally insulted her.

"You're to come home now," Jiraiya explained just in case. He wasn't sure how much she had to drink but he wanted to be sure she got the full meaning while she was still lucid. "This is an official order Tsunade, you can't ignore this."

"Like hell," she muttered. "I said I never wanted to go back."

"Yeah and the old man gave you permission because of his position," Jiraiya knew that if it had been anyone else the Hokage wouldn't have been as lenient on someone else. "Sensei wants you to come home now, in fact he could use your help as he got banged up pretty bad. A few people could use your skills."

"You know I don't do that work anymore," A shadow fell over her face. Ever since that rainy day she couldn't stand the sight of blood anymore. The image of Dan's body, his blood covering the grass as well as her hands, the blood of the man she loved. She just couldn't do it anymore surgery for people became impossible for her. She hated it, she hated that she had spent so much of her life to save lives and now she can't even do that anymore.

The fact that she had lost her brother and lover as well as her skills as a medic had just been too much. After the war had ended she had left and never looked back. Now here was her idiot teammate with orders calling her back. She looked at the scroll as she tried to figure out her options. This was an official order so if the Hokage was calling her back then he wouldn't stand for it if she just ignored it. That was most likely why Jiraiya was here.

Not only was he the only one that could track her down quickly but was one of the few that could take her in a fight. Anyone else and she would just flatten them and send them back for medical healing. So if she said no she would have to fight him. The genins weren't an issue, Shizune could handle them after all it was Jiraiya that was the problem. So, if she got past him then what?

She had stayed in this country because it offered protection she still had entries in the bingo books of the major ninja countries. If she got caught in one of those she might end up being hunted. If the Leaf thought it best to send in teams to a neutral or worse, a hostile country it could trigger a major incident. If she went to one of the smaller or lesser known countries she might be able to disappear a lot easier but not much room to run.

Maybe he was only calling her back for a short time? She could take that at least if they just needed her expertise.

"So what exactly am I being called back for?" She asked him hoping it was just medical that she could instruct Shizune to do anything requiring surgery.

Jiraiya paused knowing full well she was going to hate this part.

"You're going to be the next Hokage."

Tsunade's eyes widened as she stared at him like he said that the dead were rising. For a moment she thought that she had heard him wrong, her as Hokage? He had to be kidding her, there was no way in hell she was going to take that position and he had to know that and to know why she would never want to be Hokage.

"That better be a joke," She growled out at him.

"It's no joke."

"Why the hell would I want that fool's job? That job does nothing but get people killed, there is no way in hell that I would take that job. Get some other sucker to do it."

Jiraiya knew this wasn't going to be easy in fact this was going as well as he thought it was. He was just about to try another tactic when he noticed Naruto. The boy looked extremely pissed at the moment and from the looks of it, the boy was going to blow. Before he could calm the boy down or stop him before he said or did something stupid, he was too late.

"What the hell is your problems granny!" Naruto shouted out as everyone at the table froze.

There was a long pause at the table before Tsunade glared angrily at Naruto as a tic showed slowly grew on her temple. "What did you just call me?"

The cold in her voice gave Jiraiya chills, he hadn't heard her use that tone in her voice in a long time. In fact the last time had been when she had caught him peeking at her in the hot springs. He had nearly been killed by her that day.

"You heard me!" Naruto stood up glaring at her. "You only look young because of a henge, I know you're really old. What kind of woman hides her age like that anyway?"

"You little brat."

"And what's wrong with being Hokage!"

"That job is only for people who want to get killed," Tsunade told him. "With the exception of everyone's whose face in on that mountain, they've all died and do you know how many people have died trying to even get that position?" She calmed down a bit taking the last drink in her cup. "Only fools and idiots want that job and it will eventually kill everyone that takes it."

"Well you can count me as both then!" Naruto shot back not noticing the sweat drop of his three companions at his choice of words. "Because one day, I'm going to be Hokage!"

For a split second the image of Naruto was overlapped with the image of another young boy. The image was of her young brother Nawaki, he had made that same claim in that same way. She was shocked to her core as this boy reminded her too much of him. The look in the boy's eyes said he truly believed that dream of his. She snapped out of her shock as she smirked at him.

"Oh? You think some loud mouthed little brat like you has what it takes to be Hokage? You have no idea what it takes."

"I know that it takes more than being an old has been, running away from everything and nothing but a drunk."

A sudden smash was heard as Tsunade had crushed the sake jug she had been holding. Everyone could feel the anger coming off the woman. "How dare you! You have no idea what I've put myself through and lost all in the service of my village. You haven't had to put people back together, seen more people die than you can remember, you haven't seen your loved ones die or dead in front of you. I did my service and more. I have nothing left to give and you expect me to go back and lead the village that I gave so much of my life too?"

"My grandfather and great uncle were the First and Second Hokages and you know what? They both died violent deaths, I barely remember them anymore since they died so young. The only thing left of them is this." She pulled out a necklace with a small green stone of some kind on it. "This is worth enough to buy a mountain and something they gave me. It's something they both wore at one time and now it's a constant reminder that all Hokages come to a bad end."

"I may not be as old as you and did as much," Naruto came back at this point. "But you're not the only person that's lost something. But you know what, I don't care. I'm not going to let anything stop me from being Hokage because the Hokage protects the village and keeps it save. You may not love the village but I do and I will do anything to protect it, if I die to protect it then fine!"

"You stupid brat don't you dare say something like that in front of me!" Tsunade yelled at him. "You want to waste your life for a dream you'll never see happen?"

"At least I'm going for something instead of hiding like you!"

"Shouldn't we stop this?" Shizune asked Jiraiya getting a little scared of how this was going.

"Let it play out," The man hadn't seen anyone get under Tsunade's skin like this before. It was actually kind of funny although he hoped she didn't pound him into the ground. Bringing back Kakashi's kid all broken up would not be a good thing to happen.

"That's it, you really think you can be Hokage then fine, let's see how strong you think you are then." Tsunade got up and headed for the door. "That is if you're not scared."

"Like hell I would be cared of you Grandma!"

Cracking knuckles could be heard from Tsunade making a fist at that remark. Soon the entire group was outside in the street as Naruto and Tsunade faced off against each other.

Naruto took out a kunai getting ready but was a little confused by how she seemed very relaxed. "Well aren't you going to do something?"

"Like I have to worry about you, I won't need more than a finger to deal with you." She replied confidently.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, he hated it when people looked down at him. He rushed forward with his kunai but every time she slashed at her she dodged it easily. She only moved when she had to and every time it just barely missed. But she was smiling the entire time, Naruto soon saw that she was doing it on purpose to prove a point. He tried to go faster but the next thing he knew, her finger had gone through the hole in the hilt of the kunai and it was literally taken out of his hand.

He had never even heard of someone doing that before. He quickly pulled out his short sword belonging to his grandfather and tried attacking with that as the other looked on.

"Should we stop this before it gets dangerous?" Sakura asked.

Jiraiya shook his head watching the action. "Don't worry, she'll make sure that she won't go overboard, actually I'm surprised he's lasting this long. But then again I think she's playing with him."

Sasuke had never seen anyone take on Naruto this easily before. In all the spars with him they had always been somewhat even. Sometimes Naruto would win and other times it was Sasuke, so seeing the boy he considered his friend and rival having such a hard time only made him see just how far someone could go as a ninja. The woman was strong, maybe even stronger than his brother.

Naruto couldn't believe that this woman was holding him off so easily, just when he thought he got a good attack in she moved more quickly than he thought was possible. Next thing he knew she was in front of him, her finger suddenly flicked his forehead. It felt like a hammer had hit his skull as he flew out ten feet. He cursed as he picked himself up, that had really hurt and it had just been a finger.

He needed something to beat her, something she couldn't block and a power move to get through her freakish strength. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea, he hadn't even perfected it yet but it was the only hope he had. He put away his sword as she started to gather the chakra and ran at her. Jiraiya and the genins were surprised he was going to try and use the rasengan on her.

Tsunade was a little confused what the boy was doing but suddenly as the chakra started to form into a ball she knew full well what jutsu he was using.

'_That __old __fool,__teaching __a __kid __that!__'_ She knew the rasengan having seen it done herself by Jiraiya after he learned it from his student. The chakra was forming tighter now she had to stop the kid before it was finished as there was no way in hell she was going to try and block that jutsu. Tsunade suddenly slammer her fist into the ground as it broke open slightly.

Naruto hadn't expected that as his foot was tripped up and he feel, the jutsu fell apart without his concentration to keep it stable.

"Jiraiya!" She yelled at her idiot teammate. "What the hell do you think you were doing trying to teach a genin that jutsu!"

"Ha! I did it," Naruto slowly picked himself up.

"Did what?" Tsunade asked annoyed.

He grinned under his mask at her, "I got you to use your hold hand."

She paused as she thought about it, admitting defeat that the kid had gotten her to use her hand and not just a finger like she said. "Okay so you got me there but you're the one that was face down in the dirt."

"If I got that jutsu finished then you would have been the one in the dirt."

"I am surprised you got the jutsu that far but there is no way in hell a boy like you could learn something like that."

"One week! Give me one week and I'll show you that I can do it!"

Tsunade raised her eyebrow as something started to click in her mind. "Oh? Then how about this, you and I make a bet."

"Sure!"

Tsunade smirked thinking she found a way out or at least maybe get some time to think of a way to plan out her escape from being called back to be Hokage. "If I win this bet and you can't master that jutsu in one week then you all leave me alone."

"Now wait a minute-" Jiraiya started up but Naruto already jumped in.

"Fine but if I win, you come back and become Hokage!"

Tsunade couldn't have planned this out better than she thought. There was no way in hell that boy could finish it in just a week. It took the Fourth years to create it and it took Jiraiya months to learn it as well. This was just too perfect. "You're on kid."

"Wait a damn minute!" Jiraiya jumped in.

"No take backs Jiraiya," she smirked at him. "Either we do this or I start running. Don't worry I won't leave this town until after a week but if you try anything I'm gone and you know I won't be easy to find or take back."

Jiraiya knew she had a point and although it was a slim hope it was hope, but still. Why the hell did the brat have to go and say something like that? He palmed his face thinking maybe taking the kid was a bad idea after all. "Fine then." He then looked at the kid picking him up. "You better learn this because there is no way in hell I'm telling the Third about any of this if this blows up in our faces."

"Don't worry I can do it," Naruto assured him.

But Jiraiya wasn't as certain, true he had come a long way but it still he wasn't sure the kid could pull it off. This was going to be one very long week for all of them.

**Next up Chapter 7: Hard Times**


	7. Hard Times

**AN: As a reminder if you leave a review with a question I can't replay if you have PM disabled, such as say you Dj0rel, if you want me to reply I need to be able to contact you lol.**

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 7: Hard Times**

For the past few days the only thing on Naruto's mind was to complete the rasengan, he had gone up to the second stage but the third part he was having a hard time with. He was currently in an open field littered with small craters from his previous failed attempts. He knew that he could get this but he was running out of time.

For days he had been trying to get this right but he couldn't get it, he had to compress it all down and also keep up the spinning chakra by pouring more power into it. Doing both at the same time was proving to be too much for him. He couldn't focus on both at the same time, either he would lose focus on one of the two and the rasengan would become unstable. Keeping both in balance was the key but it was a lot harder than it sounded.

Currently he was on his back looking up at the night sky, he only had two days left and he couldn't get past this stupid wall he hit in his training. Well he wasn't going to give up, that wasn't him, he would force his way through this like with everything else if he had to. Now if only he could move his body to get up and do it again.

"Naruto are you okay?"

Naruto looked over to see Sakura walking over to him and kneeling down.

"Hey Sakura-chan, just taking a break is all." He told her.

She didn't believe him as she looked at his hand there were nasty looking scorch marks on his palm. Sitting down she looked at it, it looked kind of nasty and very painful as well. From seeing how Sasuke's hands got from trying to master that new jutsu of his she could tell that Naruto was trying not to make her worry. It was a good idea that she had gone to check on him.

"Seriously you're really overdoing it like usual," Sakura gently took his hand and saw him wince. "See, it hurts just by a light touch doesn't it?"

"Only a little." He muttered then Sakura pinch it as he yelled out. "Okay-okay it hurts a lot more than that!"

Sakura sighed as she started to pull out bandages and looked at the healing ointment she had left. From patching up Sasuke she barely had any left as she frowned. "Honestly I'm going through too much of these healing supplies on you two. I'm not even sure how effective this will work on this."

"Maybe I could help?"

Both young ninja turned to see Shizune walking over to them. She had been watching Naruto struggle with the move for awhile now in the trees hidden from sight. There was something strange about the young boy and she was curious about him. Watching him put so much into his training was also admirable as well. He hadn't stopped training for days, he always came back to the hotel tired and usually being carried by Jiraiya.

So today she had silently followed him to see if he was making any progress, she knew that Tsunade didn't expect the boy to make it and was making plans on what to do after she won her bet with the boy. A part of her hoped that the boy would win, she wanted Tsunade to put away her past and move forward, to go back home. Shizune knew that Tsunade wasn't really happy living like this but she was also too stubborn to do anything else.

She was now kneeling down next to Sakura looking at the boy's hand, there was a lot of chakra burns into the flesh. "May I see that?" Shizune asked Sakura for her ointment and looked at it. She placed her finger into it and smelt it and tasted it a little. "Ah, standard ointment treatment."

"You can tell that?" Sakura blinked at the woman's skill to tell all of that from just smelling it and tasting it.

Shizune smiled at her, "I'm Tsunade's apprentice so I know many different types of treatments. But I think I have something better." Shizune placed her hand over Naruto's as glowing green chakra was seen as Naruto looked at his hand. There was this strange warmth flowing into his hand as the pain was slightly fading away.

Pulling her hand away revealed that Naruto's hand looked a little better. Shizune pulled out her own supplies as she started to wrap Naruto's hand up.

"What was that?" Naruto and Sakura asked at the same time.

"That was medical ninjutsu it uses chakra to help heal injuries as well as a few other things. Tsunade-sama created and refined hundreds of techniques. In fact many say that she ratified the medical ninja core into the best the world has ever seen. Konoha casualties were lowered ever since she started teaching her techniques." Shizune said proudly.

"Wow, that's handy to have," Naruto could flex his fingers again.

Sakura paused to think about it, given how much Sasuke and Naruto got hurt and she usually tried to fix them up. Seeing this technique was something interesting and it might be helpful, she tried to keep up with the boys but they just had more chakra than her and their skills were different. She tried but it only seemed that her skills were more supportive at times.

"Can anyone learn this?" Sakura asked the older woman. "I mean do you need large chakra for this or something?"

"Actually the best medics are those with the best chakra control," Shizune stated as she finished her work. "It's very delicate work so you need a good amount of concentration and chakra control because a lot of the techniques can be very subtle. Sometimes you have to heal things as small as veins or even working on trying to fight infections. Not everyone can do it either as it also requires much studying and remembering a lot about the human body."

"Well that sounds perfect for Sakura-chan!" Naruto said suddenly. "She always got stop scores on all the tests and she did the tree climbing exercise on her first try."

"Really?" Shizune looked at the girl she remembered that it took herself five times to climb the tree when she learned it. In fact doing the tree climbing exercise in one go was practically unheard of. Shizune looked at the pink haired girl and was starting to wonder maybe this girl had some hidden talents after all.

"If you want I could try and teach you a couple simple exercises to see if you have any talent for it."

"Really?" Sakura was happy to hear about it, anything that would help her become a better ninja was welcomed.

Shizune nodded happily, it would allow her to get to know the girl more and also it might be nice to help see if she could train the young girl. "We can start tomorrow but let's get Naruto-kun back to the hotel."

"No way I can still train!" Naruto protested.

Shizune looked at the young boy with a determined glare. "You are going back to the hotel and you are going to sleep. You are suffering from chakra exhaustion not to mention chakra burns on your hand. You need to recover and that's what you're going to do. Now are you going to behave or are you going to be difficult?"

Naruto didn't say anything after the lecture from Shizune and Sakura's opinion of the other woman was starting to grow a she picked the boy up and started to tell him about all the troubles the human body could suffer through with chakra exhaustion and pushing it too far. Sakura listened in both learning a few things and also somewhat enjoying Naruto getting lectured on their way back to the hotel.

**-Konoha Hospital-**

In a bed of the special observation wing of the hospital was the silent form of Kakashi Hatake. He had lost consciousness from the fight with Itachi and hadn't woken up since. The doctors were confused by it as they couldn't find anything physically wrong with him. They were still working but they were unable to figure out why he hadn't woken up, other than some type of trauma had been inflicted. Currently he was the only patient in the room but not the only person.

Kurenai was there to visit him as she and others did from time to time. Gai certainly came in as did Asuma, plus others that either worked with Kakashi in the past some even Kurenai guessed from ANBU that still regarded the man as someone they honoured. But out of everyone Kurenai had never seen Anko and she was starting to wonder what had gotten into that girl. Her man was here in bed and she wasn't around? It didn't make sense to Kurenai and at first she thought maybe she just missed her but talking with other visitors they hadn't seen her.

In fact Anko was keeping a very low profile and hardly anyone had seen her.

Kurenai looked at the still form of the man in the bed and saw the mask on his face, she asked a nurse about why it was still on. They said there was a standing request from Kakashi that if he was ever put into the hospital he wanted his mask on most of the time. It was an oddball thing to request but since it was Kakashi, Kurenai figured it was just something he would do. The door to the room opened and she was surprised to see one of her students, Hinata walking in with a small vase of flowers.

"Hinata?"

"Ah! Kurenai-sensei, sorry I didn't know anyone else was here."

Kurenai smiled at the young student, "Don't worry about it, so you're here to see Kakashi too?"

Hinata nodded, "He always treated me nicely growing up with Naruto-kun." Although she had never said it, Hinata considered Kakashi almost like another uncle. She remembered how he was always kind to her growing up and how sometimes he would supervise her and Naruto as children when they played together. He had even given her presents on her birthday and all kinds of other little things.

Slowly she moved to the side of the bed and placed her flowers on a table nearby as she looked sadly at the man. He had always been a little larger than life to her, a famous ninja and yet a good father and man. Looking at him now in this bed so weak, it brought back memories of her mother and she prayed every night for Kakashi to get better so that Naruto wouldn't know the pain of losing a parent.

"Are you okay?" Kurenai noticed the pain look in her eyes but also how slow she was moving. "Lately you've seemed a little tired when we can arrange to have practice and you seem sluggish."

"Uh...I-I've been getting help from Neji-niisan," Hinata blushed at being found out she wanted to keep it a surprise for Naruto of course. "I've been getting up early with him and meeting his team."

"Wait you're taking training lessons from Gai?" Kurenai wasn't sure how to take that. Gai was a master at getting someone physically fit after all but he did go overboard a lot. The fact that Hinata was doing this worried her as Hinata wasn't really built for that kind of work. Another sensation was that Kurenai felt a little embarrassed that one of her own students went to another teacher for help. She tried to get with her team as much as possible but with how crazy things were it was just really difficult.

"Is that okay?" Hinata hadn't really considered if Kurenai would object or anything. "I just wanted to get stronger and also Neji-niisan is helping with my family's style when his team can't train."

Kurenai couldn't fault the girl after all she had confidence problems so if this was helping her become a stronger person then Kurenai really couldn't say anything against it. Thinking on it maybe it was for the best Hinata really had no skill with genjutsu and seemed to only be able to use the water skills she had trained with. Her physical nature was one of the young Hyuga's drawbacks. She wasn't built for power which is what the gentle fist wasn't about thankfully. So maybe this physical training would help her not only in that area she lacked but maybe for her confidence.

"Just don't overdue things okay?" Kurenai told her student. "I know that Gai can get pretty intense at times with his training so try to not get injured because of it."

Hinata nodded her head, after that first day of training she was so tired and sore she wanted to crawl into her bed and sleep. The early mornings were hard to get used to but Neji had always been there for her to help her through things. Even giving her little hints as to how to cope with it all, Tenten was also helpful as well for the girl. Still the training was very hard but she didn't mind she felt like she was getting stronger because of it.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Kurenai made a move to the door. "I have to hunt someone down and get some answers."

Kurenai tried the usually places, first Anko's apartment but it was empty, and then she tried the few places she knew Anko liked to go to but no luck there either. After that it was trying to track her down by asking if anyone saw her. So far Anko as keeping a really low profile most people haven't even seen her. Eventually Kurenai tried looking for Anko in the training areas. It took seven tried to finally track the woman down and oddly enough she was in the Team 7 training field. Most likely because it was the one she knew wouldn't have anyone there.

Kurenai watched as Anko had thrown her jacket over a stump and had protruded some rope and tied it around one of the trees. She was currently beating the hell out of it with her fist which Kurenai was thankful to notice that they were at least wrapped up. This was a training technique to strengthen your hands and it could get very nasty if a person went overboard. The rope was to act like padding in a way from the bark of the tree but remain a hard surface to toughen up your fist against.

Anko had sweat pouring off her body and looked to have been at this for some time.

Kurenai was able to walk right up to the woman who was so focused in her own little world that she couldn't notice anything around her.

"Anko, what are you doing here?"

Anko stopped suddenly and turned to look and Kurenai could see that the woman's face wasn't very healthy by the looks of it Anko hadn't been sleeping well lately. Said woman just shrugged and went back to punching. "Just training."

"I'm surprised you haven't seen Kakashi yet."

Anko paused a bit, "Is he awake?"

"No."

"Then what's the point?" She continued on throwing her first as though she was battling something in front of her, instead of deep inside of her as Kurenai was seeing.

"The point is that your boyfriend is in the hospital, have you even seen him at all?"

"A couple of times."

"Anko stop this!" Kurenai grabbed the girl's writs in mid strike and forced Anko to face her. "What's gotten into you? This is nothing like how you act."

"How would you know?" Anko shot back angrily. "How does anyone know anything? Unless you can read my mind you can't know how I'm supposed to me so what makes you say that this isn't 'normal' for me?"

Kurenai wasn't seeing where Anko was going with this the woman was obviously upset but seemed to be keeping it all inside. Sure a ninja wasn't supposed to show emotions but there was a different between not showing it and letting them eat you up inside. Kurenai calmed down as she spoke more gently to her friend.

"Anko what's wrong? Please tell me I'm your friend and I can see that something is wrong."

Anko just turned to face away as she placed some light punches into her training spot again although more slowly. "I'm thinking of breaking things off."

Kurenai's eyes widened, "Wait you mean breaking up with Kakashi? Why? I thought you were happy together?"

"You call this happy?" Anko said bitterly. "If I wasn't with him would I be feeling the same way now? It's better not to have attachments, to live your life without someone there. Hell I've done it for more of my life so why can't I do it again? Sure the sex was great and it was nice but it's just not worth it if he dies and then what? The doctors can't help him so what if for the rest of his life he's stuck like that?"

Anko placed one more punch against her target as her body started to shake. She hated this feelings she hated feeling this weak inside. She never felt so powerless and she despised feeling powerless, ever since that day when she had been betrayed the person she had looked up to the most her entire world had changed. At first things had been hard on her, she had been interrogated for any information on Orochimaru but she couldn't remember anything anymore.

Parts of her life had been stolen and she could never get them back again, plus she had been marked for life. She felt the cursed seal on her neck as it was a constant reminder to her like a brand on her soul that would never go away. It made her feel dirty at times that he had marked her as though she were his property.

It had taken time but eventually she had overcome it, some had thought she was a spy, others branded her because of her link to Orochimaru. Few were able to become friends with her but she just pushed it all aside. She was used to being alone, oh sure she had made friends along the way like Kurenai but when she went home she went home to an empty apartment. But then things had changed, she had met Kakashi and at first she was just a friend but became something more. So much more that deep inside that she was scared of it.

"Anko," Kurenai placed a warm hand on her friend's shoulder. "do you know how much I would love to be in your position?"

Anko turned to face the woman like she was mad.

"Here you are in a lovely relationship when..." Kurenai blushed as she fumbled with her own feelings. "You had the courage to actually try, I haven't been able to do that."

"So what if Asuma was there you would be in there crying over his body like the good little woman?" Anko sneered.

Kurenai coughed but continued on, "Yes, well not cry over him he wouldn't like to see me like that I bet. But I would be there for him, that's what it means to be in a relationship Anko, to be there for each other in the good times and in the bad."

Anko turned away as her fist balled up. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

"What wasn't supposed to be like this?"

"It was just a fling at first," Anko shook her head. "We were just supposed to date a bit, have some nice sex and that was it but then I..."

Kurenai moved forward and placed both hands on the woman's shoulder she could sense that they were finally getting to the heart of the problem just a little more and they would get to it. "Go on, what happened?"

"It's stupid."

"It's not if it makes you this upset."

"Yes it is! It wasn't supposed to be like this, but then...then we started hanging out and starting to talk and share things. God I told him things I never told anyone you know that? Stupid of me, I kept everyone at a certain distance but then I have to open up to him of all people!" She punched once more into the ropes hard enough that Kurenai could see some blood on her knuckles.

"I'm sure you weren't the only one, I'm sure he shared with you as well and you know how he is."

Anko gave a sad laugh, "That's just it, I really do know how he is now. I have seen sides to him that no one gets to see. Don't you see? I was just out for a good time I wasn't out to fall in..." She stopped then as her arm dropped.

Kurenai gripped her a bit more tightly. "Anko this is important what is that it turned into?"

Anko didn't want to say the words she didn't want to admit it. She wanted to run from this because it scared her too much to face it. She had lived her entire life without feeling it so why now of all times? She had been prepared to just live her life going from one fling to the next with no real attachments. She figured she would just die in the line of duty and she had honestly made her peace with it. So then why had she been thinking of a new future for herself? One where she was glad to finally live her life completely?

She wanted to deny it, she wanted to bury it and forget about it but every time she thought of Kakashi on that bed and that she might never see him again as the man he was, it broke her heart. She had never experienced pain like this and it was only made worst because she couldn't have done anything to stop him from getting hurt. She had been there and she couldn't have done a single thing to help in the end. He had needed her and she couldn't have saved him and it only made the pain worse.

"Anko!" Kurenai shook her friend and turned her around and was shocked to see that Anko had tears falling. She had never known Anko to cry over anything, she had seen this women get a kunai in her shoulder and hadn't cried like this. "Anko, please what is it? You have to admit it, I can see that it's eating you up inside just let it out."

Anko didn't want to hear it, she wanted Kurenai to go away to have everyone go away and just leave her alone again.

"Anko you know that you are never alone," Kurenai told her friend. "You will always have the support of those close to you and I know that Kakashi will get better, you will see him again and whatever issues you have you can work them out with him but please whatever your holding onto just let it go."

Anko's resistant was breaking she could feel it she fought it tooth and nail but the thought of seeing Kakashi again, it broke something inside of her. She wanted to see him again, to talk to him to just have him in her life again.

"Damn you..." Anko's head fell as she felt her body shake. "Why couldn't you have just left me alone?"

"Because I'm your friend and I don't like to see you in pain. Now what is that that you weren't supposed to do?"

"I wasn't...I wasn't supposed to fall in love with him." Anko said gently as she finally said the words that had been haunting her all this time. "Everyone close to me ends up hurting me in the end at least that's what I always thought. But then you and others show up and then Kakashi...god I never thought I would know what love was. I thought it was just this stupid thing people called lust but it's not. I feel warm when I'm in his arms, I look forward to going to his place or waking up in bed together. I feel happy when I'm with him, really happy not just the regular kind."

Kurenai hugged the young woman as Anko eventually hugged her back. "It's okay, he'll be fine and all those wonderful things will be back in your life again?"

"But what if he's not? What if I lose him, all this time I thought love was just a joke but then that bastard made me fall in love with him so now what? I don't think I can take this, my heart hurts worst than when Orochimaru betrayed me." Anko said holding on tightly to the other woman.

"You have to have faith," Kurenai told her. "You have to have hope that it will all turn out alright, as long as he breaths you know that he'll never stop fighting."

She chuckled a bit as she pulled away wiping her eyes, "Yeah he can be a pretty stubborn guy at times. God look at me, I feel like such a girl."

"Well you are one," Kurenai smiled.

"Shut up," Anko dried her eyes. "You know what I mean I don't do this girly emotional crap."

Kurenai smiled as she looked at Anko, the other woman looked like she had a weight lifted off of her shoulders, not all of it but at least she wasn't being crushed by keeping all her problems inside. Anko was a good friend who had been given a lousy sensei that had taken advantage of an impressionable young girl who had worshiped him. It had left scars that many didn't see or even think she had but Kurenai could tell that they were there, hidden under all that acting out and childish personality.

Deep inside there was a young girl that had been hurt badly and was just afraid of being hurt again a second time. The worst things a person could face were the demons inside of you, to face yourself is one of the greatest challenges you could ever do in life.

"Feeling better?"

"I don't know," Anko said honestly. "I still feel like crap, if you tell anyone that I was like this I swear..."

Kurenai held her hands up, "It stays between us I promise."

Anko nodded and then her face fell as she sat down on the ground. "Damn, I can't believe I said it. I never even said it to him that I, well you know. I feel so screwed up inside over all of this but I want things to go back to how they were with him and myself. I want him back but I hate seeing him in that bed, it hurts every time I look at him."

Kurenai sat down and put her arm around Anko. "I know but think of how good it will be when he wakes up and you're right there with him."

"Maybe," Anko sighed as she pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head on them. She hated waiting around and honestly how was she supposed to act when he woke up? Admitting to her feelings only brought up other issues, like what if he didn't feel the same or what if he did, then what? Things were simple and yet now they were all very complicated simply because she let her guard down.

Looking at her friend she smirked, "So you envy me huh? So does that mean you finally admit that you like Asuma and wished he would man up and ask you out? You know I could talk to him for you."

"Anko!" Kurenai shouted out as she blushed bright red. "I don't need you to do that!"

"Well you need some kind of kick in the ass," Anko sighed. "I went after my man and got him, show some interest in him I bet he would take it. I mean come on, use your sexy side to get his attention and you would have him eating out of your hand."

Kurenai hated it when Anko turned the tables on her by using Asuma part of it was because there was a little truth in what Anko said. She was interesting in Asuma, there was just something about the man that well, that was very attractive to her and she would be lying if she said she never thought what it might be. Seeing Anko and Kakashi so happy together sometimes was hard to take since although she masked it, Kurenai wished that could have been her at times.

Yes she was a ninja but she was also a woman at heart and sometimes you needed more than just your job and your duty to the village. Anko had gone after Kakashi and although this was a dark time for them, she could see how deeply Anko cared, even if the other woman had tried to hide from it.

"Tell you what," Kurenai couldn't believe she was going to say this. "When Kakashi wakes up, I'll ask out Asuma."

"You sure about that?" Anko grinned knowing how that might play out and making plans on watching it all happen.

"That's how confident that Kakashi will be okay, I'm betting on that so what do you say?" Kurenai asked stubbornly.

Anko only grinned larger, "No take backs on this and I mean a real date. Not hanging out as friends you have to say date and mean it like a couple."

"F-Fine," Kurenai turned her nose up blushing slightly.

"I'm going to hold you to it," Anko warned her. "God he better wake up soon." Anko now had two things to look forward to. "Hey Kurenai...thanks."

Kurenai only smiled back at her, "What are friends for?"

**Next up Chapter 8: Dark Meetings**


	8. Dark Meetings

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 8: Dark Meetings**

Tsunade was starting to feel a bit better this day, the bet was nearly over and from what she could tell the boy wasn't going to finish that move. So all she had to do now was just wait it out and then she would make sure Jiraiya honoured his end and left this village. Then Tsunade planned to leave very quickly in the opposite direction. Of course not everything was going well, when Jiraiya wasn't training the kids he was constantly annoying her.

Joining her for drinks and usually he would make some kind of comment that pissed her off enough to send him unconscious on the ground. She was also starting to worry about Shizune, she was spending a bit too much time with those kids, especially the girl. Every night she would get back to their room as Shizune would go on about how talented the girl was with chakra control. Although it was honestly rare to find someone that gifted for the more subtle arts of ninjutsu, Tsunade couldn't allow herself to get attached.

Part of her wanted to tell Shizune to stop seeing them but the woman was happier than she could remember seeing in a long time. Shizune liked the kids and mainly interacting with others from the village who she hadn't seen in years. Tsunade had to admit that she never really thought about how Shizune might feel about never seeing her home again.

Well what of it, Tsunade wasn't forcing the woman to stay by her side if she had to she would force Shizune to go back if it made the woman happy. Tsunade could stand to be alone for some time again, she was used to it and she didn't want Shizune to start regretting staying by her side. Tsunade sighed, this was getting more complicated because deep down she liked having Shizune around, someone that was there for her when she needed them. The young woman was more than an apprentice and more of a friend. In fact Shizune was most likely the closest friend she had in life currently.

Tsunade was on her way to meet Shizune for lunch but she was wondering if she should tell the woman to not get too close to those kids, it only to make the separation easier on the woman.

She was so lost in thought she didn't notice the dark presence coming up from behind until it was several feet away. Looking around she noticed she was in a small side street, there were no other people walking and it was a good ambush site. She chided herself for letting this happen she knew that a ninja was to never forget where they were or to let their guard down and to always be ready. She had spent too many years getting soft, something she would have to look into soon.

Tsunade paused suddenly as she turned to face them there were two of them in robes and hats that hid their faces. Glaring at the two men she widened her stance as she got ready for a fight.

"Alright why are you two following me, if it's about a dept then you should have brought more than just you two."

A dark chuckle from one of them made her even more on alert as it was a voice she knew all too well.

"Well that's not a very warm welcoming," The man took off his hat showing pale skin with golden snake eyes or Orochimaru. "We haven't seen each other in years and this is the first thing you say to me? And you look like you haven't aged a day either, well your age isn't even skin deep but I don't want to talk about the secrets to looking young."

"What do you want?" She demanded coldly as she flicked her eyes quickly to the other one as he took off his own hat. She didn't know the boy, he looked like a young teenager with white hair and glasses but there was something about the boy that said he could be trouble.

Orochimaru only smiled at her, "I wanted to give you an offer that's all, after all were so such close friends at one point."

"Until you betrayed the village," she told him.

"Please how is that any different then what you did?" He asked.

Now that was pushing things too far for her, "I left on good terms I didn't commit crimes against the village and against everything I stand for as a medic. I learned all about those god forsaken experiments of yours. The things you've done can never be forgiven for the price that had to be paid for whatever you learned from them."

"Oh you might change your mind soon enough," He chuckled again. "You see I have learned a lot even about life and death. It's not such a final thing as you would believe, isn't that what you always wanted to learn, how to battle death and win?"

She paused as his words hit a soft spot in her, and how she had always tried to fight death and how many times she had lost. He also knew that and most likely why he picked those words out.

"Well I've learned how and I'm willing to share that is if you want to listen to my deal."

She remained silent, just the thought of all those horrible things she had learned he had done made her sick to her stomach and the fact that he most likely hadn't stopped those insane experiments. Looking at him now she could see that his age wasn't the result of an illusion like her own, there had been a forbidden jutsu that might have worked but she couldn't believe he might have gone that far. There was also some small part of her that wanted to listen to what he had to say, there was so much death in the world that she was sick of seeing it.

He took her silence to continue on. "If you join me instead of going back to that village, then you can learn all kinds of secrets and to give you added incentive how about I give you back two people that you've lost?"

Her eyes widened as she felt like someone had stabbed her in the heart. "You can't mean..."

"Of course I mean it," he grinned widely at her. "I'll give you back your lover and you're little brother."

"That's impossible."

"Normally yes, but you see while I was in Konoha for a month I took the time to gather a few special specimens. I've perfected a very old technique that a certain relative of yours created if I'm not mistaken."

Now understanding hit her, it had been a forbidden jutsu created by her own great uncle the second Hokage had developed a technique to revive the dead. The knowledge of that technique had been passed on through the family but not anything about the technique of the jutsu. The only scroll containing all the notes was supposed to be locked up in the most secure are of the Hokage's tower with all the other forbidden knowledge.

When her grand uncle had figured out what that technique was he had ordered the knowledge sealed and forgotten by all, that it was a crime against the world of man and against god. She fought that small part of her that wanted to see them again, they were dead and gone and they should stay like that. But she couldn't silence that little voice that kept speaking all the things she wanted to hear.

"You know when I found that jutsu of your family's I was impressed," Orochimaru stated. "It was brilliant work I can see where you get it from. But it was flawed, the returned were only dolls and it was imperfect. It took me years but I've perfected your family's jutsu, it's amazing what I had to do in order to get it working just right. So what do you say? Come with me to a little field on the west end of the village just outside of the walls and I'll show you."

"You can see them again they'll be good as new."

Tsunade wanted to tell him to go to hell but if a fight broke out here it would be trouble, there were too many innocent people in the way. Was that the reason he was picking a wide open area where no one would find them? He most likely had something else planned there had to be more reason for him showing himself to her. Well if it came down to a fight she was pretty sure she could take him if she had to plus he had a feeling he wasn't just going to let her walk away from here.

"Fine let's get this over with...you lead the way," she told him not wanting to show her back to either of them or to get too close to either of them.

He grinned at her as he nodded her point and they all started to walk.

Kabuto paused for a moment as he looked behind them, he thought he sensed a presence just now but maybe it was nothing. He continued walking with the two others as he didn't want to be left behind. Down the road and hiding behind the corner of a wall was Shizune as she was pressed up against it nearly holding her breath as she listened to their fading footsteps to make sure they were a good distance away.

She finally let her breath out she has heard everything and knew this was very bad. She needed to get help, Shizune knew that Tsunade wouldn't take any deal by Orochimaru but she wasn't sure what her plan was. So Shizune had to go and find help, but there was only one group that she could go to for help. Although she trusted Tsunade to handle herself in a fight, this whole thing was giving her a bad feeling. She ran off to the hotel hoping she could find them there, there wasn't much time.

**-Elsewhere-**

"Man I can almost get this if I can just figure this out," Naruto muttered. "I mean there has to be a way around it!"

"You've been saying that for two days now," Sasuke sighed getting slightly irritated that he was going on this again. He himself was nearing completing a new jutsu that would allow him to send lightning chakra into his sword. If he could master that then he would start with other objects soon.

"Is it really that hard?" Sakura asked sitting between the two of them. She had learned early on that sitting between them when they both were irritated was the only way to keep things from blowing up between them. Given that they were out of reach of each other was a big help.

"Well it's this last part," Naruto explained to her. "I mean you got to keep the chakra compact but keep it spinning with lots of power. I can only focus on one at a time but you need to focus on both for it to keep it working." He sighed slumping slightly he was running out of time for this bet and honestly he felt like he was slamming his head against a wall with this problem.

"Too bad you don't have two heads," Sakura commented. "That way you can focus on both at the same time."

"Yeah...hey yeah," Naruto perked up as inspiration hit him. "Sakura-chan you're a genius that's exactly what I need!"

"I think he's finally cracked under the stress," Sasuke commented.

"Shut up! I think I'm really on to something here," Naruto got up and was all excited now. "I still got time but this just might work. Come on, hurry up we got to get back to the training area so I can try this out!"

Sasuke leaned in to Sakura to whisper to her. "What idea did you give him?"

"I'm not sure," She replied, she remembered her comment but she had no idea where he was taking it. It had just been a joke but apparently Naruto had seen something in it and Naruto was the type that could see what others missed or wouldn't think about. One of the reasons he was so unexpected she had learned over the years as his friend.

Suddenly a new person ran up as all three young teens turned to look at Shizune. She had seen them on the way to the hotel and was thankful that she had found them. She had pushed herself hard to run here but thankfully although she hadn't been on any missions in years, she kept up her physical strength. So she wasn't out of breath but now that she was here she didn't see Jiraiya. Now she was worried if he wasn't here she wasn't sure they would have the time to find him.

"Hey Shizune-neechan, is something wrong?" Naruto asked he had gotten to like the older woman in the past few days. She was really nice to him even when she scolded him for going overboard with his training. She was like a big sister that he never had so he got to calling her that. She didn't seem to mind and honestly she was kind of cool too with how she knew so much about medical stuff. He didn't understand it but Sakura was taking it up like she was a natural at it.

"Where's Jiraiya?" She asked looking around.

Three faces seemed to take on the same deadpan expression, "He said he needed some time to think." Naruto told her. That meant he was getting depressed over that he might have to let Tsunade go and was currently off at a certain bar drinking and 'having fun' as he like to say.

Shizune cursed her luck, "We need to find him fast, he's the only person I know that can help Tsunade out of the trouble she's in."

"What trouble?" Sakura asked her seeing the fear on the woman's face.

"Orochimaru is here and she went with him outside of the village," She told them as all three of the genins froze in place. They all remembered encountering Orochimaru in the Forest of Death. Sasuke's hand felt the mark on his neck the ever constant reminder of that man.

"Please, we have to get Jiraiya as fast as possible," Shizune asked of them.

"We know where he is but why is Tsunade with Orochimaru?" Sakura asked worried how this sounded.

"I think she plans on doing something dangerous," Shizune told them. "She might have gone into this thinking she could handle it but I just don't know."

**-Field outside of the Village-**

Tsunade looked around her, the village was just out of sight and some woods were in the opposite direction. The place was pretty barren actually and no one seemed to come this way. That didn't surprise her, the main roads were on the other side of the village so there wouldn't be much traffic here. She had no idea what he had planned but even if she believed him in his claim that he could bring them back, she couldn't do it.

She knew what a crime that jutsu was and she would stop him. He had perverted too much medical knowledge for his own gains, hurt too many people and there was no forgiveness in her. She still remembered when they brought in that girl that had been his apprentice, she couldn't remember her name but Tsunade had been brought in to help out. The poor girl had lost so much of her memories that even Tsunade had failed to bring back.

They finally stopped roughly around the center of the field that was fine with her it was time she wanted to get this over with.

"Well no one should get in our way out here," Orochimaru smiled. "So then, where were we?"

"I believe you were going to tell me something that I wanted to hear and then try and convince me to join you but let's just say we did that and get to the real point of all of this?" Tsunade told him clearly not wanting to drag this out anymore than was needed. "I highly doubt you actually thought for a moment you could convince me of all people to join you and just ignore all the things you've done or will do."

"I figured the reason you wanted us to come out here and it wasn't just so that you wouldn't have privacy for a chat."

He chuckled just then, "I'm not surprised you figured that out. I was hoping that I could talk you into joining me but I also knew it was a long shot. I figured that I had nothing to lose even if I tried. So you won't join me, pity I really could have used your talents. Oh well, you see even though I know that you might not rejoin the village, I can't take the chance that you would go back."

"I took a long time in order to weaken the village as it is now, if you return it might give the village some hope and we can't have that. Plus if I get you out of the way then my other targets would be much easier to deal with."

"Other targets, what other targets?" Tsunade was thinking that maybe he could be talking about Jiraiya but he said there was more than one. She didn't think he meant Shizune, sure she was a great medic, one of the bests but was she really worthy to be killed for that?

"You see there is a young boy that I've marked that I want," he grinned licking his lips. "His eyes are something that I need with them I could learn so many jutsus in just a few years. The power I could have with them is nearly unimaginable. I hope that he'll be more willing for my offer of power after all I know what he wants most and I can give it to him."

Tsunade figured out he had to be talking about the Uchiha boy and it didn't sound like he was out for the boy's best interests. "Who's the other one?"

"A certain jinchuriki boy," he told her. "You see I used to belong to a certain group and that boy and others like him, well they're important. I never did learn the full reason, I knew it was more than what the leader of this group told us but I was only there for my own reasons anyway. Fact is we parted not on the best of terms and they need all nine of them. So if one were to say...die, well then they wouldn't be too happy about that." He laughed then as Tsunade looked at him in anger.

He truly had fallen from when they had been kids, that young boy she had known would never have done any of this. This was just the proof that he had gone totally insane in the years she had last seen him. But it was a old calculating insanity of some kind, he was fully aware of himself but he just didn't care how his actions hurt others. He had always been a bit cold and distant but it was like she was seeing a totally different person in the body of her once friend.

Well this was going to be easy then, a part of her worried that maybe there was some old part of him still left but by the looks of it there wasn't. The old Orochimaru was long gone and dead, replaced by this monster in his flesh. She didn't know this person and the fact that he was threatening children made her blood boil in a cold rage. She didn't care about Konoha, at least that's what she always said, but the thought of any kid, even if they were genins and should know what kind of world they live in, they were still kids in her eyes. She kept seeing her younger brother's body under that bloody sheet in her mind.

He had gone too far this time as she dug in her heels preparing for the fight. She wasn't sure what that boy with him was or what he could do but she would keep an eye on him just in case. Her main focus however was Orochimaru.

"I'm going to do what the old man should have done to you a long time ago," she told him coldly.

He only laughed, "Ah there's that old fire in your eyes let's see if age has slowed you down a little shall we?"

**-Blue Room-**

Jiraiya had found this establishment a couple of days into their time in this village and honestly he was glad for the distractions it gave him. Oh sure he had been trying to train the kids as best he could, give advice to Naruto but the only way for the boy to learn the rasengan was to learn it yourself. You could know the steps but it was up to the person to discover how to put it all together and get it working.

Jiraiya believed that in order to make a jutsu your own you needed to discover it yourself, to learn through failure and achievement, to really get your hands dirty and through hard work to finally master it could you truly understand a jutsu. It was one of the things he always argued with against Orochimaru while on the same team.

Although now he was wondering if he should break that rule and try and get the kid to learn the rasengan but despite all his flaws he wasn't a cheater. Plus the boy was eager to learn it himself and prove that he could master it. The deal line was fast approaching and he wasn't looking forward to returning to Konoha empty handed and having to face the Hokage with failure. He also hadn't been able to get Tsunade to see reason either.

So of course he was feeling depressed and maybe a little old, so he did what he usually did to cheer himself up. Go out drinking and find some pretty girls to keep him company, hence why he was now in the Blue Room as the place had decent drinks and decent women who all seemed to be dressed in blue.

Currently he was on another drink as he had three women around him, they smelt nice and they had nice skin. He knew that the only reason they were with him was because he was paying for their time, not that he really cared. When you got to his age and didn't have someone in your life, when you felt empty inside in those dark times alone with a broken heart, you would cherish even the illusion that he was indulging in.

So he just went with it, enjoying himself and maybe in a way he would feel like he was actually enjoying his time. Well maybe it wasn't that hard given that these were pretty ladies he was with and he did enjoy pretty girls.

"I must say you ladies are sure are something," He grinned like an idiot.

"Aww that's nice of you to say," The woman on his left said cuddling up to his side.

"Yeah you're a lot of fun to hang out with," The other spoke up.

Jiraiya wasn't sure if they were telling him the truth or just telling him what he wanted to hear but he didn't care.

"So how much longer are you staying?" the third asked. "We hope you're staying for a long time."

"Well ladies my time in this place is nearly gone, I got to head back home soon but before that how about we really party?" He laughed if he was going to get into trouble when he got home be might as well enjoy himself before he had the old man got to him.

"There he is!" a very loud and familiar voice was heard among the crowd.

Jiraiya groaned what was he doing here? He turned to look to see Naruto and the other two trying to make their way in, although given their ages it was no wonder that the doorman was trying to hold them off. He was also surprised to see Shizune was here with them that was odd. Naruto was yelling up a storm as he sighed, he better see what the kid wanted or else they might kick him out for all the trouble this was starting to cause.

"Excuse me ladies," Jiraiya said before getting up and walking up to them. "Okay what's so important that you kids might end up getting me kicked out of here?"

"Jiraiya you need to help Tsunade," Shizune told him frantically. "She's in trouble and we need your help."

Now he was getting serious, "what trouble?"

"It's that snake freak again," Naruto said.

"Snake freak?"

"Orochimaru," Shizune clarified.

Jiraiya was very still for a moment as he processed that before leaving the club so quickly he left the others behind for a second. They quickly caught up to him just outside as he looked at them.

"Point me in the right direction," he told them seriously.

**Next up chapter 9: Ghosts of the Past**


	9. Ghosts of the Past

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 9: Ghosts of the Past**

It had been a very long time since Tsunade had to push herself, a long time since she had last been in a fight where she couldn't just blow through the opposition. She had forgotten what it was like, the danger, the excitement, the fear of facing something that was on par with you. Given her age she was pleased to see that her body still could match up in a fight like the one that had started not long ago.

Sure she felt certain aches and pains she didn't when she had been younger and in her prime. Her body was only slightly slower but only so that most likely was the only one that could tell. She was still quick enough to dodge attacks, to see them coming and to give back with enough force of her fists to show Orochimaru that she hadn't lost her touch.

But Orochimaru didn't show any signs of having slowed down over the years, a bit annoying for her but workable. The young man however was a different manner, her old teammate did most of the attacks but then he would come in whenever he saw any kind of weakness.

Just like at this moment the young man came at her from behind, she twisted her upper body as she tried to backhand the boy's head off. Kabuto however was ready as he ducked and ran by her, one of his hands started to glow blue with chakra as he touched her leg and arm as he passed by her with a grin on his face. Tsunade didn't notice anything wrong at first, until she tried to move her left leg but her right leg moved instead. She tripped confused what happened, her medical mind going through possible things like a concussion but dismissed it as she hadn't received any head injury.

Orochimaru kicked her in the chest sending her flying and landing on her back. She tried to get up but it was like her body wasn't acting like it normally would. She only managed to get into s sitting position as she tried to work it out. Her mind quickly came to the conclusion that her nervous system had been switched up. She could feel all her limbs but thinking about moving her left arm seemed to make her right one move. Her neural impulses from her brain to her muscles had been switched around and the only way to do that was through medical ninjutsu.

Looking at the white haired teen she understood a lot more about him, that kind of advanced move wasn't something a novice could do. For someone that young to be able to use this kind of technique in a battle condition wasn't easy.

"Looks like she figured it out," Kabuto pushed up his glasses slightly as she caught Tsunade glaring right at him. From how she was studying him he had guessed that she now knew what he had done, it was to be expected of the great Tsunade whose medical ninjutsu was unrivaled. Even his skills he knew paled in comparison but he wasn't some first year student either. He had spent years learning from his 'father' who had been a medical ninja.

Well to be honest he never considered that man his 'father', his real parents had died that day at the battle of Kikyo Pass when Konoha had killed a group a enemy ninja. His parents had been a part of that, many thought he had been too young to remember but he still remembered that day. He remembered being under the dead body of his real father and the hatred for the Leaf village.

How appropriate that they were going to destroy one of the great ninjas of Konoha but also one of the greatest medical minds in the world as well.

Kabuto also wanted to show his master that his faith in him was not misplaced. He ran forward to attack while she was weakened. It came as a great surprise to him when she suddenly in the last moment used her right hand and managed to land a hit on him. The power of her fist was like nothing else as he was quite literally blown away from her. He landed onto the soft earth with a loud thud as he slowly tried to get up. His whole body hurt from that blow, every nerve was screaming out as he tried to calm his mind and allow his body to heal from the damage.

Using his medical knowledge he pours his chakra into his nervous system to help fix the problem but it would still take time to fully heal.

"How were you able to still move?" He forced out as he got up on shaky legs.

Tsunade stood without a problem grinning. "I'll admit that was a good idea on anyone else that would have worked. But who do you think came up with that technique? I know how it works and how to use my chakra to send my neural impulses back to the way they are. I know every inch of how my body works and how the human body works in general. Techniques like that might catch me by surprise for a moment but not for long."

"Now let me show you another technique that I'm more famous for." She raised her leg high up nearly straight up as she brought it down into the ground as the force of the impact split the ground forcing the two men across from her to jump out of the way.

Orochimaru laughed with a large grin on his face. "Good there's that old fire of yours."

"I'll show you more than just my fire," she told him.

Orochimaru was about to reply when he heard something coming from his sharp ears. He could sense a presence coming and he wasn't even attempting to hide. He noticed that Kabuto and Tsunade suddenly noticed something as well. It wasn't long until a large toad leapt among them slamming down into the ground with a huge amount of force.

"Thanks for the ride," Jiraiya told the large yellow toad as he and everyone got off. He dispelled the frog as soon as everyone was safe. This wasn't a combat type anyway he had called this toad as it was for fast travel given he was one of the greatest jumpers among the toad summons.

"What are you lot doing here?" Tsunade asked them slightly annoyed that Jiraiya would bring genin of all things into this. Didn't he understand how dangerous this fight could get?

"Well I heard there was an old team reunion and I guess my invite got lost," Jiraiya countered back. "Plus I couldn't leave the kids unsupervised."

"I was doing fine on my own," Tsunade told him.

"Well I have to admit I wasn't expecting you old friend," Orochimaru chuckled not at all put off by his arrival. "And you brought your own students, seems fitting as I brought one of my own."

"Hello again Naruto-kun," Kabuto grinned at the genin team.

"You jerk, my dad told me that you were nothing more than a traitor!" Naruto shouted out at him as his friends glared at the glasses wearing teen. They had actually liked him at first when they had met him but learning the truth of his alliances all three of them were giving looks that could kill.

"Traitor?" Kabuto acting hurt by that. "I'm no traitor, you have to be loyal first to be a traitor and I was never loyal to the village that destroyed my family."

"Yes it was so nice to meet someone whose hatred for the village matched my own," Orochimaru added in.

"Face it 'old friend' you've lost," Jiraiya said to Orochimaru. "We got you outnumbered."

Orochimaru chuckled, "I suppose you are correct about that one at least for the moment. You see I had a surprise in store just in case things went so wrong that I needed help or if she actually did choose to come with me. Well maybe I'll show you something special I had planned now." He bit his thumbs to draw blood and quickly went through a series of hand seals.

Jiraiya was able to follow them to know that they were some kind of summoning but something seemed off about it. He knew that Orochimaru could summon snakes but this wasn't that kind of summons, it seemed slightly different. As his hands hit the ground the black inked seals appeared on the ground as suddenly two large wooden coffins appeared.

Now Jiraiya had an idea of what was going on and he wished he had figured it out sooner to stop him. He had no idea who was in those caskets but whoever they were they couldn't be good.

The lids opened and fell and Jiraiya's eyes widened at the sight. Tsunade who was behind him, he heard her struggle to hold a horrible cry back in her throat at the sight. This was the worst possible thing to happen for her and Jiraiya once again cursed their old friend. Standing in the two coffins was a young man and a young boy, they were Dan, Tsunade's old lover and her little brother Nawaki.

"No..." Tsunade could only just whisper it out as the two bodies opened their eyes and just looking at them they seemed just like how she remembered them but she knew this was wrong. They were dead and should be a peace but as the eyes opened it was like a dagger had been plunged into her heart.

Both resurrected males walked out of their caskets.

"Bastard," Jiraiya muttered knowing this wasn't the kind of thing that Tsunade should see.

"Well is that any way to talk to me after I made this great family reunion?" Orochimaru asked him. "Well no matter, I had planned to use them anyway since I did take the time when I was back home to gather the material for this now you two why don't you say hello to everyone."

"I'm sorry about this," Dan spoke for the first time. "But we have to do what he says even if we don't want to." With that he and Nawaki charged forward.

The genins decided to take this one as the adults were unsure what to do for a split second. Tsunade wasn't sure she could bring herself to fight with the two, for Shizune she was rooted in place seeing her long dead uncle again as Jiraiya couldn't afford to take his eyes off Orochimaru. When the genin jumped in he went after Orochimaru as Shizune quickly went after Kabuto.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke attacked the two resurrected dead with their weapons. Although the dead ninja fought back Nawaki being a genin didn't have as much skill as Dan did. So it was Sasuke that managed to slice his sword into Nawaki who looked surprised. This boy wasn't much older than he was but he had moved so fast. As soon as Sasuke took his sword out of the body it began to heal.

Naruto and Sakura combined their attacks on Dan although the older man was a lot more skilled than Nawaki. He had been a fully trained ninja for years and had seen a war before being killed in said war. He had seen more battles and fights than all of Team 7 combined at the moment.

Naruto soon found himself kicked to the ground as Sakura tried her tonfa only to miss and had been counter attacked.

"Okay this isn't going well," Sakura said as she put her tonfa into a guard position.

"Man this sucks," Naruto muttered as he looked to see that Sasuke was still fighting the one that was their own age. He could see that Jiraiya and Tsunade had started a battle with Orochimaru, from what he could see it was a battle like he hadn't seen and he kind of wished he would watch. The two Sannin were going up against the third one and they seemed that they were going all out.

But he had to quickly focus back into his own fight as Dan rushed towards him. Naruto jumped back to avoid the attacks as the man pulled out a kunai to attack. Naruto used the family sword to deflect the blows but the guy was fast and good.

"You're not bad for someone your age," Dan told him. "Sorry for doing this but I have no choice."

"That's not exactly a comfort!" Naruto shouted out trying to keep ahead of the man. "You know what, screw this!" he made a bunch of shadow clones and attacked the man head on from all sides. He figured this would at least slow the man down. Although the wounds seemed to heal almost as fast as Naruto's clones could inflict them. Plus the man was slowly getting rid of the clones one by one.

"I might need a new plan soon," Naruto muttered trying to think of how to deal with someone that was already dead and couldn't be hurt or killed.

Shizune attacked Kabuto as she pulled back her sleeve as the device she kept hidden there full of automated firing blades. She pulled on the firing line as they launched at the traitor. He pulled out a kunai as he managed to knocked all the blades out of the air. Despite his age his skills she found were above what she expected. Kabuto moved in close to start attacking with his kunai as she managed to move and dodge.

This was something she was waiting for as she inhaled and felt the chakra into her lungs go into the special poison she kept in them. She exhaled as a large amount of poison gas was released from her mouth. She tried to aim it into the boy's face but it seemed that he was ready for something like that dodging away from the gas.

The problem with her jutsu was that when she sent the gas out she couldn't see because the gas would sometimes obscure her field of vision. Kabuto had used that to his advantage to sneak out of her line of sight.

Kabuto saw that Tsunade and Jiraiya was giving Orochimaru trouble, he couldn't do anything about Jiraiya but Tsunade was another matter. He had read all kinds of reports on certain people and he knew what Tsunade suffered from. He ran into the battle as he made a cut on his palm, he flexed his hand to make sure that he had enough blood cupped in it before he ran at Tsunade.

She saw him coming and was prepared for an attack but when he threw the blood at her it splattered over her. When Tsunade realized what was on her she just froze, she couldn't move as her mind went to a halt. The horror kept coming back to her even as Kabuto kicked her across the field.

"Tsunade!" Jiraiya called out seeing the blood on her knowing that she was frozen up.

"You're looking in the wrong direction," Orochimaru told him as he attacked Jiraiya.

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune had been following Kabuto but he had had too much of a lead. She rushed as fast as she could to get to her master's side. Kabuto took advantage of this as he pulled out a small smoke bomb and threw it in her direction. She immediately closed her eyes, mouth and held her breath knowing full well the kinds of trouble smoke could have on the human body.

That is until she felt a burning sensation on her skin and came out of the smoke crying out in shock and in pain as her body slumped to the ground. That smoke had some kind of toxin in it, her medical mind quickly raced as she reached for her medical supplies she kept on her body. She had several anti-toxins but she just hoped that whatever she had would work. But she could look up in horror as Kabuto started to attack Tsunade over and over again. She force her hand to work as her body was slowly going numb, not a good sign for her as she felt her fingertips touch her anti-toxin supplies.

"Granny!" Naruto saw that Kabuto was going for a killing blow by this point. He left Sakura and Sasuke to deal with their enemies leaving a good supply of clones with them to help them out since he was closest to her. Naruto moved as fast as possible to reach her in time, to help out he threw out a shuriken from his pouch on his belt, he was hoping the weapon would give him more time.

Thankfully it did as he took the time to deflect it as he ran at the man thrusting his sword out at him. He really thought that he managed to get in a good shot, until Kabuto sidestepped it just enough for the blade to just pass his body within a hair's breath of his body.

He saw Kabuto's smile before he slammed the ring part of the kunai into his wrist hitting the nerves his hands instantly opened dropping the weapon as Kabuto then used his free hand to punch him in the face.

"Well I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in such an attack. Aren't you the one the keeps talking about being Hokage?" Kabuto asked him with an evil smirk on his face. "Then again maybe it's better you just die here, such a stupid dream. I nearly laughed when I heard that you proclaimed that you would be Hokage, you? You have to realise that such a foolish dream has taken the lives of so many, what makes you think you can do it?"

"You should learn that dreams are for children and in the real world you can never attain such things." Kabuto readied his blade as the boy slowly got up. "You should just lay there and die, it would make everything so much easier on you."

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled out. "I will be Hokage! I don't care what you think or anyone else, I plan on getting strong enough to become Hokage and protect the village. I love the village and I plan on defending it with my life, for my family, for my friends and for everyone that means something to me I will do anything to protect them all!"

"To be Hokage means to protect everything that's important for you!"

Tsunade heard all of this as echoes of the past came back.

"_**I love this village so I'm going to be Hokage."**_

That had been her little brother when he first proclaimed his dream.

"_**I want to protect everyone."**_

That had been Dan when she had decided on giving him her necklace. For a split second she saw both of them in Naruto but there was something more in him, there was this fire in him that they hadn't had when they proclaimed their dream. She hadn't seen this kind of fire in...it was so long when was it? Then it hit her, she hadn't seen this since her grandfather would talk about the village, when her grand uncle would talk about being Hokage, to even when the Third had talked to her about what it meant to be a ninja of the Hidden Leaf.

They all had that special fire in them, the Will of Fire to be exact.

Naruto formed a seal and made a clone as he ran at him as she knew that rushing head on like that would be suicide. She cried out for him to stop but then she stopped as she saw something strange. The clone was doing something with the real Naruto's open palm and suddenly energy started to form. She couldn't believe her eyes as slowly the rasengan formed.

'_That's impossible...he's only a genin he shouldn't be able to pull something like that off!'_

But he was as Kabuto was taken by surprise he was about to move away when he felt something grab his leg. He looked down in surprise as another shadow clone had come out of the ground. One of Naruto's clones had gone with the original as a secret plan of attack. He had gone through the ground to come up and surprise Kabuto. The other clone when he had finished helping the original, this clone grabbed Kabuto's other arm.

"This is my will to be Hokage!" Naruto shouted out as he rammed it into the boy's chest. "Rasengan!"

Kabuto had underestimated the boy as he felt the jutsu trying to tear his inside apart, he pumped as much chakra as he could to heal the injuries as they happened but the force of the impact was forcing him back. He put just enough chakra into his free hand and managed to use a chakra scalpel. He felt it cut into his insides knowing he was going for vital areas.

He yelled out at the jutsu took him a few yards away as he fell into his back the force catching the two clones dispelling them. He landed on his back unable to move from the pain in his body. His shirt was ripped and his chest looked horrible as he gasped for air. He was had never felt such pain but thanks to certain techniques was kept alive but he was unable to move.

He did manage to laugh out painfully as he slowly managed to turn his head to look at the boy's body hit the ground. "So much for your will to be Hokage."

Tsunade saw the boy fall and something inside of her broke, she couldn't let it happen again. She forgot the blood, she forgot the horrors as she saw this single boy she had barely known show her something that she had forgotten about. Shown her something that her Grandfather and everyone that followed him had embodied, she would not let this flame go out.

She quickly went to his side turning him over and placing her hands on his chest as she began a quick check to see what was wrong with her medical chakra. She could feel the damaged and it was amazing the boy was still alive.

"No..not again, I won't let someone die on my watch again, not like this." She told herself as she worked as hard as she could to repair the damage she could feel inside of the boy. She was not going to fail again and as she saw the blood on her arms she didn't feel the fear anymore. Whatever chains had held her down were suddenly gone from her mind as she did what she had dedicated her life to doing.

Saving fellow ninja of the Leaf, protecting them and making sure they could go back to the village that they all loved.

Jiraiya took a moment to look over the battlefield, the genins were having trouble with the two dead ninja, Naruto was down as Tsunade was actually healing him, Shizune was getting back up apparently from something that had happened to her and Orochimaru was still fresh in this fight. He had to turn this around but looking where everyone was positioned he was hoping to get rid of a few pieces in one go. He started with the hand seals yelling at Sakura and Sasuke to jump out of the way.

He hoped the kids didn't get stuck in this jutsu.

Jiraiya placed his hands on the ground as suddenly a large part of the ground turned into swampland. It was a jutsu that was great for capturing people. The two dead enemies were luckily caught as Naruto's clone stayed to hold the two as they also were taken by the jutsu. Orochimaru however had seen it coming and jumped freely out of the way. Jiraiya knew it was a gamble but he had to try at least this freed up the kids.

Orochimaru scowled slightly as the fight was not going the way he was hoping. Kabuto had been actually taken out and Jiraiya had managed to get his two resurrected ninja were now stuck in swamp water of all things. He could see them struggle but from how fast they were sinking they weren't getting out anytime soon.

Now that Tsunade had somehow gotten up even while now covered in blood things weren't going well for him. Now he saw both of his old teammates facing him ready to go, in a one-on-one he was sure he could take either of them but two-on-one he wasn't that confident. The battle was over he could admit that but maybe it wouldn't be a total loss.

Tsunade was working on the Jinchuriki boy, Kabuto must have did something to him and whatever it was Orochimaru figured that Kabuto had done something serious. If the boy did died that would hinder Akatsuki's plans for him and the others like him. Well it wasn't a total loss then if that happened, now he just needed to take Kabuto and leave and with that boy down he doubted Jiraiya would leave. Plus there was the fact that his two resurrected pawns would still be left behind.

"I have to admit this day was looking up at first," Orochimaru told Jiraiya. "I had hoped to harm the Leaf in another way but it looks like fortune isn't with me today."

"Planning on slithering off then?" Jiraiya didn't want to let him leave if he did there was no telling whenever they would get a chance like this again. They could take Orochimaru out right here and right now, he was too dangerous an enemy to let go.

"I've had my fun and there is always another day," He grinned as he raised his arms as two large purple snakes came out from the sleeves. They opened their mouths as Jiraiya was expecting some kind of venom attack or for them to bite him. He didn't expect a large amount of purple smoke to come out of both snakes.

Jiraiya was about to rush through the smoke in a blind charge, yes it was insane to attack a target he couldn't find but he figured that Orochimaru was already moving to run off. Although he halted just in time when his eyes noticed the grass was starting to turn brown where the smoke hit. His mind screamed out poison gas as he quickly jumped back just before hitting the smoke. He wished he knew wind jutsu but it just wasn't his element, he had no talent for that type. He looked to see that the smoke was covering a large area but he ran to the right anyway to get around it.

Although he knew he might be too late he had to try but by the time he cleared the poison smoke as it started to dissipate he saw that Orochimaru was gone. When the smoke was completely gone he noticed that while everyone was focused on Naruto the boy he had hit with the rasengan was gone as well. Jiraiya mentally cursed, he would have to have a plan for that jutsu in their next conflict and he planned on not letting Orochimaru run amok forever.

He hurried back to Naruto who looked a little worse for wear as the others were gathered around him.

He didn't ask how he was doing she would just get annoyed with him and tell him to shut up so she could concentrate anyway. The others were gathered around although he did notice that Shizune and Sasuke had noticed Kabuto's disappearance as well but said nothing figuring that there wasn't much to say anyway.

Tsunade was giving everything she had she wouldn't see another life die not on her watch. Thankfully it looked like she was getting help from the boy's prisoner. His body was barely holding together, if it had been anyone else then Kabuto's attack would have killed them. Naruto's unique healing traits allowed for the boy to survive but it was still close too close. She stopped her treatment when she was confident that she was done.

For a moment there was nothing until Naruto groaned as his eyes flickered open.

"Welcome back gaki," Jiraiya told him honestly relieved to see the boy was okay. Although he knew that if anyone would help him it was Tsunade, but he had still been worried. After all, all of his apprentices were dead now and a part of him worried that Naruto might joined that list.

"My chest hurts," Naruto groaned out.

"Not surprising given what I had to fix in there," Tsunade felt a sense of accomplishment, this was the first person she had saved in years and she was surprised how good it felt. But as she stood up she couldn't ignore it anymore as she walked over to the swamp that was holding two people that she had loved most in life. They were up to their torso in the swamp but where still struggling.

The Naruto clones had run out of charka and had dispelled nearly after the jutsu had been cast.

Despite their circumstances Dan looked up at her and smiled, "It was nice to see you again my love."

"Dan...I'm sorry...I tried..." tears filled her eyes looking at the man she had loved and had died in front of her.

"It's okay I know you did your best," Dan looked at them all now. "I can see that the next generation will make a great impact on the world." His eyes landed on Naruto. "You truly have the will of fire in you from what I saw."

"Heh, of course I plan on being Hokage one day you know," Naruto proclaimed even while being held up by his teammates.

"Hokage huh," Dan smiled at him. "Perhaps you might be able to do it where I failed."

"Couldn't we just keep you around?" Tsunade knew it was wrong but she had them both back again. She didn't want to lose them again. But she knew that this wasn't going to last she just had to ask.

"I'm sorry sis," her little brother looked at her sadly. "But if we weren't stuck in this we would still be attacking. I don't want to hurt any of you but if you let us go, we'll just keep on attacking until your dead."

Tsunade felt her heart in her throat as she closed her eyes and nodded.

"It was nice seeing you again sis," he told her smiling. "Also sorry for dying I just wanted to make you proud of me. I love you sis and I hope you're taking care of Grandpa's village for me."

Tsunade swallowed as she nodded her head. "I'll miss you."

"I know but it looks like you're not alone," Nawaki told her seeing everyone around her.

Dan looked to Jiraiya as the man looked so much older but he knew that time was short. All this time his body was working on trying to get out and they couldn't let this go on for too long. He knew that the man cared for Tsunade and he needed to know someone was watching over her. He could still remember the last time he had seen her, in the rain crying over his body.

"Jiraiya, look after her for me." He told the old ninja.

"You got it."

Dan looked to Tsunade," Look after yourself and the village my love, Shizune you've grown into a fine woman, sorry I couldn't have been there to watch it."

"Thank you uncle," Shizune wiped the tears in her eyes.

"Goodbye," Tsunade told him as she closed her eyes. She couldn't watch this, couldn't watch them disappear again. Jiraiya completed a few hand seals as the swamp started to get deeper pulling the two into its depths. Two figured who have been brought back to life had finally said their goodbyes that they couldn't have in life. They sunk down into the dark depths deep into the earth where they would be forever sealed.

Tsunade rose up on her legs as she looked out over the area that would forever hold two of the most precious people in her heart. Her heart was filled with rage towards Orochimaru, sadness over losing them again, but she found a bit of peace there as well. She never got to say goodbye to them before and now she had this chance.

"So what now?" Jiraiya asked her.

Tsunade was quiet as she thought about everything before answering. "I think I've had enough fun, it's time for me to go home."

Jiraiya despite himself grinned, "So that means you'll take up the old man's job then? Besides, the brat won our bet in the end."

"Well I can't leave it to you now could I?" she told him as she looked at everyone else. "I guess we'll have to patch you kids up, it will be good training for you Sakura if you really want to learn medical jutsu since Shizune keeps talking about it."

Jiraiya knew that she was hurting and just pushing the pain away for later but there was a light in her eyes that he hadn't seen in years. For a moment it was like the old Tsunade he knew was finally back. Feeling a few aches in his body he was glad this mission was over and they could go home. Taking one last look at the swamp he gave a small nod to his head towards those poor souls. He didn't want to do something like this but there was no choice they didn't know how to undo the jutsu, maybe one day he would find a way.

At any rate it was time to go home.

**Next up chapter 10: Home Again**

**So sorry this took so long I just lost my muse to write anything really for a time (partially over the ending of Mass Effect 3 that made me depressed for a bit, god what a horrible ending.) Also I didn't put too much into the Sennin fight mainly because we've all seen how that fight went on.**


	10. Home Again

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 10: Home Again**

**Konoha Main Gate**

"Finally we're back!" Naruto yelled out excited to reach the gates. It had taken them some time but they had finally reached home and it was a good thing because they were all glad to see their home again.

Tsunade looked at the village, she could see the damage still present in a few areas but overall it wasn't as bad as she could have feared. Plus walking through the gates gave her a sense of peace she hadn't felt in a long time. For the first time she actually felt like she was coming home and she liked how it felt. For a moment it was like she had never left and she asked herself how she could have forgotten this feeling.

Jiraiya looked at her with the corner of his eye and only grinned slightly to himself it was good that he could see that she was enjoying being home again and it was great having her home again too. This was where she belonged not wondering the world trying to forget her past. Here was where she could do the most good and where the village needed her most. The genin looked just as excited as well from the looks of them.

"Man I can't wait to show my dad my new technique," Naruto happily as they marched towards the check in station where all ninja had to check in and out so the village would have records on who left and arrived on what time and date. "Oh yeah plus Hinata-chan and everyone else, man they are so going to be jealous."

"You're not the only one that learned something," Sasuke told him not wanting to be left out. The trip back had given him enough time to get a handle on the ability of putting lightning chakra into the metal rods. He had been moving on up to his sword although he might have to get a new one. His blade wasn't made to have chakra bumped through it. Certain weapons were specialty made for this purpose, Jiraiya told him that once he mastered it, it wouldn't matter what the blade was made of as long as it had metal.

He would train a bit more to see if he could master it to the point that he wouldn't have to get a whole new weapon set for it.

"How about you Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked his friend. "Granny seems to be working you hard."

That earned him a bob on the head from Tsunade with a small tic of anger on her forehead. She really wished at times he would stop calling her that. Naruto glared up at the women but her own glare sent back simply told him not to push his luck. The woman could hit him clear across the village if she really wanted to.

"It's actually pretty great," Sakura jumped in quickly while mentally wondering why she always had to play peacekeeper at times like this. "I've been learning a lot."

"She's a quick study," Tsunade said proudly at the girl, Sakura had an uncanny natural ability to remember what she learned. Tsunade was starting to wonder if the girl had some kind of photographic memory or something but it was more than that, Sakura could also grasp the concepts not just remember them from what Tsunade could tell. That was much more important to understand the material because then when something unexpected happened you could adapt.

"I think in a month she might be ready for some more practical exercise." Tsunade told them all and then looked at Sakura. "That is if you're willing to take extra training under myself and Shizune when we have the time."

Sakura's eyes lit up, to train under them would be amazing there was so much she could learn. "Of course!"

They got to the check in when the two chunins on duty saw who the group was it was a shock, two of the legendary ninjas, one of them Tsunade who had returned home for the first time in so many years. It was one of those things that actually made this boring posting worthwhile at times. But as soon as they saw Naruto Hatake they were quickly reminded of another duty that they had. It was one of the things that no one wanted to do when they got this posting.

"Naruto Hatake," one of the men said to the boy.

"Yeah, something wrong?" Naruto wondered why the two chunin looked so uncomfortable. Tsunade and Jiraiya however picked up on something was wrong, they had enough life experience to notice the subtle signs in the two chunins.

"You should check in on the hospital," one of the spoke up.

"What, why?" Now Naruto was getting a bad feeling that something was wrong.

"Kakashi Hatake was placed there weeks ago, he's been in a coma ever since," The other one finished hating this part of the job especially to say something like this to a kid.

Naruto took only a second to process what was said before he rushed off, soon to be followed by everyone else.

**-Konoha Hospital-**

It had been an hour since they had gotten to the hospital and the entire team was currently waiting in the hall as Tsunade was working on Kakashi. Naruto had rushed over here as soon as possible and had demanded to be taken to his father's room. When they had finally gotten to the room and saw the still form of Kakashi, Tsunade had taken charge right then and there. She demanded to see the doctor on duty, to see everything on Kakashi's condition.

It wasn't long until a nurse had quickly dragged a doctor in, when Tsunade was in her medic mode you couldn't help but do what the woman demanded. Soon everyone else was kicked out of the room as she went to look on his condition and if possible to heal him.

That was where everyone was at this moment, waiting in a hallway for some kind of word. There was a strange silence among the genin team but what really was getting to Sakura and Sasuke was just how quiet Naruto was. It was very strange to see the boy so still and quiet and it was starting to worry them. Sasuke glanced at the boy now and then but Naruto's face was more of a mask now (even though he wore a mask anyway) then he could ever remember. He did notice that Naruto kept clenching his fists now and then.

Jiraiya had gone to the Hokage's room to report in and set things up to make sure that everything would be set up in advance for Tsunade to take over.

Sasuke was looking at Naruto and he had no idea what or if he should say something to him, Naruto was a rival that he had ever since the first day they met. Naruto was the only person his own age that actually pushed Sasuke to get better and it was a rivalry that he had come to enjoy. Ever defeat spurred him to improve, every victory felt great but despite all that the boy had become his friend and Sasuke knew what it was like to lose family. It was a pain that never really went away, it dulled with time but the wound and scars of that always remained.

He didn't want Naruto to know what it was like to lose family, especially since Kakashi was the only family that Naruto had left. Ever since learning about his past, that Naruto had lost his parents without ever knowing them, Sasuke felt a bit bad that he at least had memories of his parents. Kakashi had become the only father that Naruto had known. The young dark haired boy also didn't want to lose their sensei, it was more than that Kakashi was the only one that could teach him about the sharingan, or what else he could learn from the man.

The man had become a bit more than a teacher, all those stories of Obito had given him a new look at his clan. He had been the first adult that Sasuke had really started to look up to and while on Team 7 he felt better about his life. He still wanted to kill his brother but lately he felt that maybe there might be more to it.

For Naruto he was in own little world as for the first time he really felt fear in a long time. He had gone through a lot but not once did he ever think that he might lose his dad. Kakashi had always been there for him, in all the times he needed a dad, Kakashi had been that dad. Helping with homework, making him do homework actually, making sure he ate more than ramen but treating him to ramen when Naruto did something good. All those memories rushed through his mind and he just couldn't see his life without his dad.

"Kid?"

Naruto looked to his left to see Anko, Hinata with Kurenai coming quickly over to the group. When word got out that Naruto and the others were back and that they had Tsunade with them at the hospital Anko had ran straight here. It was pure luck that she ran into Kurenai and Hinata and quickly told them what she heard. She only had slowed down because Hinata would want to come with them and Kurenai came as well.

Anko had been the one that had spoken to Naruto and the look in his eyes told her that the kid was holding but he was worried, well she knew that all too well. When she heard that Tsunade herself was at the hospital for the first time she had real hope. Hinata moved to his side a range of emotions running through her. She was glad that he was back but she was also worried for him.

She sat down next to him and when she looked into his blue eyes they weren't as bright as they normally would be. She could see the turmoil he was in and her heart ached from it. Naruto had always been the stronger one the one that always was there for her and made her happy. He was always the one that would be cheerful and hopeful but this was the first time she could remember when she couldn't see any of that in his eyes.

Hinata could still remember the day her mother had died, it had been the worst day of her life and yet Naruto had been there for her, through all the heartache and pain he had always been by her side as her best friend. But now they were more than friends and she wanted to be there for him, to share his pain and help him through what was to come. No matter what she didn't want Naruto to be alone so she sat down next to him and without a word gently placed her hand into one of his.

Naruto looked into her pale eyes and felt her soft hand in his own it felt so delicate and soft in his hand as he gently took her warm hand in his own. It felt a lot better to have her here as he waited to see what would happen. Her gentle nature seemed to have a calming presence on him but the worry was still there.

Anko looked at the two and couldn't help but feel a small smile tug at her lips, despite everything, this little warm moment showed her that relationships had many parts to it and being there for the other was part of it. Seeing the two young ninjas made her hope that neither of them would go through what she had been going through since Kakashi had been put into the hospital.

"How long has she been in there?" Anko asked the others.

"Over an hour now," Sakura answered as every single minute seemed to drag for eternity. It felt like eight hours by this point for her as she was deeply worried for their sensei.

"How did this happen?" Sasuke asked as they hadn't had a chance to ask anyone that question.

Anko felt a slow burning anger inside of her remembering how it happened and how she hadn't been strong enough to help. Kakashi had taken on everything to protect them all and now he was the one in a hospital. So she started at the beginning about how they had run into two strangers in the village and how it turned out to be Itachi and a partner of his. Sasuke took extreme notice when his brother's name had been said as a very long rage filled his eyes. It was an old pain and anger that had slowly burned for years and now it was slowly starting to burn hotter.

Anko finished things off by how she wasn't sure what happened, but Kakashi had ended up taking some kind of assault that landed him in a coma and he had been in there ever since.

"We still don't know what happened," Kurenai finished as she had been there. "Kakashi told us to keep our eyes closed the entire time it happened."

"A sharingan technique," Sasuke spoke up for the first time. "It's the only thing I can think of."

"Do you know what kind?" Kurenai didn't know much about sharingan techniques, not many did outside of the Uchiha clan.

"Yeah I have a pretty good idea," Sasuke's jaw clenched remembering the last time he had seen his brother on that bloody day. He had seen those red and black eyes that were unlike any sharingan he had ever seen before. The next thing he knew he was spending three days in hell, living the deaths of his family and clan over and over again in a never ending torment. Sasuke remembered waking up in the hospital over a month later.

It looked like he wasn't going to say anything else to everyone so they didn't push they could see the anger written all over the boy's face.

"We've been visiting every day," Hinata told Naruto if only to get rid of the silence that had started to build up.

"We?" Naruto asked speaking since he had left the room for the first time.

"W-well myself, my team, Kurenai-sensei, Asuma-sensei and Anko-Sensei was here a lot too." Hinata counted off mentally of those she could remember off the top of her head.

Anko turned away slightly if only so no one would see the slight blush on her cheeks, she hated being looked at as 'soft' by others and now she had everyone looking at her at once. Normally she liked attention just on her terms.

"What?" Anko challenged anyone to say anything to her at the moment. At least the kids had the good graces to know when to avoid her look. Although Anko did look at the closed door to Kakashi's room wondering how things were going, her heart felt like it was hammering in her chest as any moment Tsunade could come out of there with either good or bad news.

It was fifteen long silent minutes until the door finally opened with Tsunade and Shizune walking out as the blonde woman looked slightly tired but in a good mood.

"You got fifteen minutes to talk to him but not more, he needs to recover and-" She couldn't finished before Naruto rushed by her into the room making the woman smile. It felt good to help others again and to make sure a family stayed together filled her with a great sense of accomplishment.

Kakashi groaned feeling like his entire body was stiff and his head felt like someone dropped a mountain on it. He couldn't remember how he had gotten into the hospital exactly but as he thought about it, it was slowly coming back to him. He started to remember Itachi and then those three days in hell, he remembered Anko being there too and a slight panic hit him as he tried looking to see if she was in the room.

He wasn't sure if that had been a trick or if she had also been pulled into that world, it felt like a nightmare that he had dreamt but also he felt like it had been so real. His memories blurred from that moment as time while in that world had been stretched and twisted to the point that he couldn't tell how much time had passed. What had seemed like an hour turned out to only be a minute, it sure felt more like months than days.

The first thing Kakashi saw when waking up had been a face he hadn't seen since he was a lot younger, Tsunade herself seemed to be back. She gave him a quick check and he complied as best he could but he felt totally drained. Most likely from not eating solid foods since he had been in a coma for starters and he didn't even want to think what his body was like having not moved at all in all this time.

Soon after Tsunade had left a small blonde, black and orange blur ran into the room and landed onto his chest. Kakashi nearly had the wind knocked out of him as Naruto collided into his chest.

"Dad!"

"Hey there, sorry you had to come back and see me resting like this," Kakashi joked wrapping an arm around Naruto. It felt good knowing that Naruto was back home and safe, he remembered how Itachi had been after him, he wasn't sure about the full reasons for it but it wouldn't have been good for Naruto.

Naruto pulled himself out smiling that his dad was okay, "I was worried dad."

"I know, sorry son," Kakashi placed his hand on the boy's head. "So anything interesting happen on your mission?" He knew that changing the subject would help and Naruto's eyes lit up as well.

"Oh yeah I learned this really cool new technique!" Naruto happily said as he started to go into the whole story. He was interrupted halfway through when Anko pulled him off, she had waited for the father and son reunion but she couldn't wait anymore.

"Hey what the hell?" Naruto protested.

"Tsunade said only fifteen minutes brat," Anko told him. "You can tell him the rest tomorrow let some of us have a moment too."

"Oh okay," Naruto scratched the back of his head realizing that Anko would want to talk too. "Okay I'll be right over tomorrow dad."

"I'm not going anywhere," Kakashi grinned as Naruto and the others left. Soon it was only Anko and Kakashi there in the room alone.

Kakashi looked her over, she seemed a little ragged but well. It looked like Itachi might have just used an image of her after all, that made him feel better. He could take torture but the torture of those precious to him was a lot harder and it was extremely hard to have seen her gone through it. He could still hear her screaming in pain and although it had been an illusion it still rang in his ears when thinking on it. Kakashi also started to realize something else, Anko meant a lot to him.

He had never felt like this about anyone, she was in his thoughts daily and a face he always looked forward to seeing. Yes he found her beautiful but it was more than that, she had an energy about her that made life fun. She walked over to him smiling and he couldn't help but smile in return.

"Are you okay?" Kakashi asked and saw some confusion on her face. He wanted to make sure that she hadn't suffered because he hadn't been strong enough to protect her. "With the fight after I went down?"

"Oh that, yeah Gai showed up just after...well whatever Itachi did to you." Anko could see him visibly relax and wondered what he was getting at. Well whatever it was she had someone more important to say to him while she had the time. "You know there's something I need to tell you."

"Oh yeah?" Kakashi looked at her intrigued as she leaned in closer. He had to admit that he was glad that it seemed she had never experienced the hell he had gone through and the thought of her lips was a welcomed change. Too bad that he was so occupied with her lips that he didn't notice her fist connecting into his stomach, he forgot how hard she could punch before that moment.

He coughed out as he tried to breath, the next thing he knew she was thrown over him and he wasn't sure what was going on.

"Anko?" He asked carefully.

"You idiot!" She yelled at him. "Do you have any idea how hard it was seeing you like this and not know if you would ever get better?" She pulled back and for the first time in Kakashi's memory he could see tears in her eyes. Anko never cried, at least he had never seen her cry, not once. Yet here she was although it wasn't the water works you would expect, maybe a couple and that was it but that was a couple more than he could ever remember.

"You dick I was so worried," She balled her fists and wiping her eyes she wouldn't cry anymore she had cried enough as it was and she didn't like it.

"Sorry," Kakashi couldn't think of much else to say he was still surprised that Anko had actually shed tears and for him no less.

"Don't do that to me ever again you got that?" Anko gave him a steeled look that she meant it. "I know that our lives are dangerous and I know that but I just need to hear you say it, that you'll never do this to me again. It's stupid I know but..."

He managed to reach up and cup her face, "I know and I'm sorry to worry you. Tell you what, as long as I have you to return to I'll keep fighting and never give up seeing you again."

Although the sentiment was his, he actually took that from one of his books. It was actually one of his favorite lines and he doubted that Anko would know it. Besides he wasn't sure what he could say to her that would make her feel better but this whole thing did remind him of one of his favorite scenes. Despite what many thought he was a bit of a closet romantic, which was one of the reasons he read those books, again, _one_ of the reasons.

He was actually surprised to see her blush slightly it was kind of cute seeing her a little more feminine at times like this. She tried to hide it and he wanted to say how cute she looked in that moment but he got hit once already by her.

"Idiot," She whispered out but his words did make her feel better. She heard a knock on the door as Tsunade's voice telling her that Anko's time was nearly over. She learned and gently pulled down his mask to give him a gentle but long kiss. She was just so relieved that he was awake and that he would be okay. All this time she had been an emotional wreck but it did put things into perspective for her and she saw things about herself and her feelings for Kakashi went a lot deeper than she thought.

Slowly she pulled away putting the mask back up.

"I love you," She whispered to him and quickly got up and went to the door before he could see how red saying those little words made her face. She had forced herself to admit the truth and now she had finally said the words. She didn't care if he said them back, well okay that was a lie, she did care a bit but at the moment she wanted to give him time to process that.

Kakashi blinked not sure he heard her correctly, "Wait Anko what did you just say, Anko...Anko." He called after her but she closed the door behind her.

So there he was tired, his body streaming for rest and decent food but all he could think about was what Anko had just said to him. He just stayed awake for hours after that thinking on it and trying to pin down how he felt about it by the time he thought through it he also came up with a plan on how to respond to Anko.

**Next up Chapter 11: It's Good to be Back**


	11. It's Good to be Back

**I want to thank everyone that takes the time to actually review the story given all the work and time I put into writing them.**

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 11: It's Good to be Back**

Naruto was feeling great and very relieved at the same time. This day had not gone the way he had thought it would. Finding his dad in a coma had been one of the worst moments he could remember but Tsunade had fixed him up. Still that had been one hell of a bad time and he had been genuinely worried there the entire time.

"I'm glad that Kakashi-sensei will be okay," Sakura commented with a sigh of relief. She was walking with Naruto as well as Sasuke and Hinata. "I'm not sure what we would do if something had happened to him."

"Yeah no kidding," Naruto said in a more serious tone and looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke, you're brother's a dick."

Sasuke only gave a small grunt as an affirmative Naruto wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know. Although Sasuke was marking this down as yet another reason he needed to hunt his brother down and end him for good. The man had killed his clan and family and now attacked his sensei, if he didn't know any better he would swear that Itachi was trying to make this even more personal.

"I'm glad he's okay," Sasuke knew full well what might have happened he had gone through that same thing himself. Just the memory of it made him clench his jaw, he had been out of it for days before he woke up and when he had, the entire world had changed for him and would never be the same again. A part of him died that night so long ago and his childhood had ended back then.

He was glad that Naruto wouldn't have to go through the pain of losing family like that, watching them die before you and being completely helpless to change it was like acid in your stomach. It just ate away at you slowly over time.

"Thanks," Naruto nodded his head.

The four of them came to a fork in the road as they stopped.

"Well I got to go this way," Sasuke said going to the left. It had been one long trip and he felt physically and mentally tired after everything.

"I'll go with him," Sakura told Naruto as she didn't want to be a third wheel between Naruto and Hinata. She knew that Naruto had been eager to see her and she could bet that Hinata was the same. So she used this as an excuse to leave them alone as she caught up with Sasuke. She got in step with Sasuke and looked over her shoulder seeing Naruto and Hinata walk off together.

She signed kind of envious of the relationship, "Hope they have a good time because this is the long way home for me."

Sasuke glanced at her and then back at the two behind. "Knowing him he might already be trying something."

"He better not try something too bad," Sakura said dryly. "Given how he talked about her father chasing him around the city one night because of a misunderstanding."

Sasuke gave a small grunt of a laugh remembering hearing about that, he would have liked to have seen that in person. Sakura gave a small smile glad to see his mood breaking slightly, honestly she got worried about him at times, all this repressing his anger couldn't be healthy but now that Kakashi was out of danger she had time to think about it. Itachi had nearly taken away her sensei, not only that, she had known him as long as she had known Naruto. He had always been 'Naruto's dad' longer than sensei to her. She remembered him talking with her parents when he brought Naruto over to her birthday back in their younger days and he had always been interesting to say the least.

She couldn't help but feel a bit of anger towards Itachi now and what had nearly happened because of him.

"Naruto's right about your brother." She commented eventually.

"Tell me about it," Sasuke said in a dark tone. "Just another reason for me to stop him."

"Well you can count me and Naruto in on that," she told him sternly. "He got into our village and attacked Leaf ninja."

"It's personal Sakura."

"And it's not for us?"

Sasuke didn't want to start an argument here in the middle of the street and thankfully it looked like an intersection up ahead. He knew where she lived so she would have to go left while he could just go right and hopefully end this here. He really didn't want to get into anything at the moment, he just wanted to get home and rest up.

"I'm going this way," He simply said as he took his own path.

Sakura stopped and considered going with him but she really should get home as she bet her parents were worried about her by this time. She had been gone from the village for a long time and she couldn't give them any messages that she was okay. But she was still worried about Sasuke even though he was making it clear he didn't want to talk about it.

Sakura sighed knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere with him today she just wished that he would realize he didn't have to do everything alone.

Back with Naruto and Hinata, Naruto was busy talking animatedly about the whole mission in his usual flamboyant fashion. Hinata smiled as she listened to him go on, after all this time away she was just glad that he was back. She listened in on all the things they had to get through just to find Tsunade and by the time they got back to Naruto's home they had gotten to the part of his training in a new jutsu.

"So did you finish it?" Hinata asked him as they got to the front door.

"Oh you bet I did," Naruto grinned as he couldn't wait to show it off. "Hey since my dad is going to be in the hospital for a bit how about I come over tomorrow and show you? You guys got that large training area so we can use that right?"

Hinata thought about it and although it was a family training area for the clan she could make sure that they could use it. "I don't see a problem."

"Great!" He suddenly remembered something else he wanted to do since he got back. He did a quick look around just in case and then quickly pulled his back down. Hinata's eyes widened as she felt his lips on hers as he kissed her for the first time since he left.

Hinata felt her face heat up as her heart rate increased to the point she thought it might pass out. Naruto pulled back smiling at her before pulling his mask back up. He had been wanting to do that for awhile now and he couldn't stop himself any longer.

"So I'll see you tomorrow right?"

"Uh...okay..." Hinata said feeling very light headed at the moment.

"Great, I'll come over tomorrow then," Naruto waved her goodbye as she gave a idle wave back watching him go into his home.

"Uh...okay," She repeated as she seemed to move almost in automatic with a blissful smile on her face. She walked home in a pleasant daze enjoying the sensation on her lips as the phantom feeling of Naruto's lips on hers slowly faded away. She walked right through the main gate of the Hyuga compound not noticing anything as she was lost in her own happy world.

It wasn't until Hanabi saw her older sister walking towards her, the young Hyuga noticed the odd behavior of her sister but she did seem happy. Her young mind could only think of one thing that could get her older sister this happy.

"Naruto is back I see," she simply stated.

That managed to get Hinata out of her daydreaming as she noticed her sister. "Huh?"

"I said that Naruto is back since you're so happy today." Hanabi could see her sister start to blush slightly as Hanabi only raised one of her eyebrows slightly. Apparently she was right but she was glad he was back, things were too quiet around here and a bit dull when he wasn't around. Konohamaru and his friends did help but Naruto seemed to bring excitement with him. Although some adults would say he brought chaos with him but that was a matter of perspective.

"Oh yes he got back today and Kakashi-sensei is also well now."

Hanabi was surprised to hear that but glad for Naruto's sake that his father would be okay. "I should tell Konohamaru-kun about all of this next time I see him."

"W-well I was going to ask father permission to use the training grounds here tomorrow for Naruto-kun. He had a new jutsu he wanted to show off that he learned on his mission."

Hanabi was interested in what it was but Hinata didn't know for sure as Naruto never named the jutsu. But he seemed pretty excited about it so it must be something really good. The two sisters decided to see their father together as they walked through the mansion. They asked around and found that he was in his study with their uncle. Now most would think that because of the Byakugan the Hyuga could just look through everywhere for someone.

That was a major misconception of the village, it was because of this that there was a rule that unless in emergencies you were not to use the bloodline while inside of the buildings. Outside of training areas they weren't supposed to use it. It was just so that everyone had privacy, when you were in a clan of people that could see through walls privacy was something everyone wanted. The last thing you needed was to constantly worry that someone was misusing the bloodline ability to spy on others.

They knocked on the door and waited as they had been taught. If their father was too busy he would say as much but would allow them in if he had a moment of free time. As head of the clan he had a lot of responsibilities so he was kept busy some days. They heard their father bid them to enter as Hinata slid open the door and closed it behind them. Both sisters walked in unison as they both bowed the same way as they stood before their father.

He was behind his thick wood desk that had papers on it for various matters. They could range from repair costs, supply requests, those submitting children to join the ninja academy, reports on clan supplies, incident reports. There were many different types as Hinata knew, her father took time now and then to show his daughters what it took to run the clan. It wasn't anything in depth as he would save that for when they were older and to the one that would lead the clan. But he wanted his daughters somewhat familiar with how the clan worked before that time.

Now they stood before him as a mirror image of their uncle stood next to them, both were identical except for the headband that was around his head that all Branch members wore to hide the seal on their foreheads.

"Yes?" Their father was straight and to the point.

Hinata bowed again before speaking as was customary. "I-I wanted to request that the training grounds to be reserved for t-tomorrow." She hated stuttering in front of her father but she felt very nervous when she was being so official with him.

"Oh, why is that?" Her father was slightly interested as she had never requested time usually she just went whenever it wasn't in use.

"N-Naruto-kun is back and he wants to show a new jutsu he learned while on his mission."

Hiashi sat back a moment, he knew that Naruto had been with Jiraiya himself and had most likely learned something from him. That would be interesting to see, not to mention that if Naruto wanted to officially court his daughter he would have to prove himself to the elders. Not an easy task but it could be used to his advantage. Although he still wasn't sure he liked the boy dating his daughter, oh sure he liked the boy well enough, when the boy wasn't causing mischief or mayhem that is. But this was _his_ daughter after all but as his own brother pointed out, Hinata was happy with the boy so he would bite his tongue until he had to step in.

"Very well, we'll reserve time for it, but what of his father? The last I heard he was still in a coma."

"Kakashi-sensei woke up today with the help of Lady Tsunade," Hinata reported.

"Oh so she has returned then," Hiashi looked to his twin brother as he could tell that a new leader for the village had to be on the way. There was a rumor that the Third was stepping down and handing it over to one of his students.

"I was wondering if I could invite Konohamaru-kun and his friends," Hanabi put in. "He close to Naruto and would like to see him as well."

Hiashi nodded his head towards his youngest giving his consent. "Is that everything?"

"Yes father," both girls said together.

"Good, you may leave and I'll see you both at dinner tonight," Hiashi watched them leave before putting down his papers.

"This should be interesting," Hizashi commented with a small smile. "Knowing that boy he'll be showing us something interesting."

"That boy is anything but predictable," Hiashi told his brother before going back to work. He just hoped that whatever the boy planned on showing them wouldn't cause some kind of damage to the area, it got expensive to repair and this was a boy that could employ exploding shadow clones of all things.

**-Konoha Hospital-**

Hiruzen Sarutobi had been around for nearly seventy years and at this moment he felt every minute of it. He was still in his own hospital room as Tsunade was using a chakra skill to look over his injuries he had gotten from his battle with Orochimaru. He had been stuck in this room ever since the attack as his injuries prevented him from moving around much.

"How is it?" He asked her when she removed her hands from his chest seeing the blue glow fade away.

"You have spinal damage as I bet you've been informed."

He nodded as he couldn't feel much of his legs and could barely move them.

"There are still things even I can't heal," She wanted to add in that maybe if she had been here she could have done a better job of his injuries then whoever had worked on him. That isn't to say that whoever it was did a bad job, it's just that she knew she would have done better. After checking out the injuries only his spine was the thing that really concerned her.

"With surgery I could help but I can't cure the amount of damage," She told him being upfront to a patient was something she believed in. The patient should know everything that they were in store for as she went on. "Even if I can react some of the nerves through chakra I can't fix them all. Since the time of the injury some parts of the damaged nerves have died or are too damaged for me to do anything."

"If this works you'll only get partial movement again and you would need months of rehab to learn how to walk. Even after all of this, you'll never be able to run, jump or move very quickly. You also might need a cane to get around."

Sarutobi sighed hearing all that as the doctors earlier had told him that the sword wound he got from Orochimaru had been very damaging. Although at least Tsunade was telling him he might walk again on his own but it was just as he knew it would be. His ninja career was over for now, there would be no coming back from this which was why he had Jiraiya get Tsunade back here.

"I see, well I was prepared for the worse," he looked at his student and although she had on that illusion of her younger self there was a feeling of age about her. Her eyes were older than her twenty-something appearance and in the way she moved. But there was something new in her, a fire that he hadn't seen in her in a long time seemed to be back.

He smiled at her glad to see the return of the 'old Tsunade' that seemed to be back. "It's good that you returned and it seems that a certain weight has been lifted off your shoulders."

"Hmmph, maybe so," she grinned slightly looking out at the village. "So I'm going to be looking ever this whole place soon."

"I could think of no one better."

She reached for the amulet around her neck thinking on that, sometimes she though this necklace was cursed and that whoever she gave it too who said they were going to be Hokage it killed. Maybe because they were unworthy or some other strange reason, looking back she realized it was just a necklace and that it didn't have that kind of power. It was her own fears playing on her mind she could see that now.

Looking over the village as she thought about all the lives that rested in her hand but she was a medic she was used to that. Plus there might just be one more person that she might be able to entrust the future of the village too. The same lout mouthed little boy that had stood up to her and helped show her what it meant to be Hokage through his words and actions.

"I have to admit that there was a time I thought I never wanted to come back here."

"Glad that things changed then," he smiled. "Or should I say good that a certain someone helped?"

"Whose idea was it to send the brat anyway?"

"Who do you think?"

Tsunade shook her head she should have known that it had been Jiraiya's idea. "Although what makes you think he had anything to do with my mood change?"

He gave her a knowing smile in return. "He said that Naruto has a special way with people and I have to admit he does. The situation with Gaara of the Sand for instance comes to mind and he was also resulted in another matter with a rogue ninja." He wanted to say more but you never knew at times who was listening even in the village. Anyways he knew the real story of Zabuza and that the man was actually still alive in the country of Wave.

If she wanted to know more she could always look up the sealed reports that only the Hokage could get into which would be her right soon enough.

"He does seem to have something about him," Tsunade nodded her head in agreement. "In fact the entire team impressed me. Faced with overwhelming odds and they pulled together and didn't hesitate."

"You should read the reports on them in the chunin exams, they all preformed very well and also in the battle after it. Kakashi once told me he wanted to make the next team that would be this generation's Sannin."

"Oh really?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow at that comment.

"Of course he was just trying to put himself on the team but if he's going to make such a claim he better well damn do his best to pull it off," The old man grinned he hadn't been fooled by Kakashi's boast but he let the man run with it. So far it was proving most interesting and the results he had to admit showed some promise.

"Well the brat certainly has unique qualities about him," She grinned looking out the window thinking of her old team and this young one. She couldn't help but see some of the similarities in them but they were still very unique. "The Uchiha boy showed some impressive skills with his bloodline and combat abilities. While not the same type as his brother, I think with the proper training he could be a great ninja. The girl Sakura, she's shown a remarkable aptitude with the more subtle arts of using chakra."

"Oh really?" he thought back about her and what he could remember in her file. "She has been shown to be very good with manipulation of chakra."

"Good? She's already got some basics down of medical jutsu and she did the tree climbing in one go." She told him.

"That brings me back," he thought back to his days as a jonin sensei. "You were the only student I could remember doing the same thing and you were rubbing it in their noses all the while the other two were trying to catch up to you."

Tsunade chuckled at her more youthful days back when the world hadn't seemed to scary, dangerous and painful. "I'm thinking of taking the girl under my wing, with Shizune's help of course. I know I'll be busy but the girl shows to be a natural to be a combat medic and from what I heard of a few stories those two teammates of her will need someone to patch them up after they jump in head first into the action."

"I thought Shizune was going to be your only apprentice?"

"Don't get me wrong, Shizune can't be replaced but there are some things even she could never master. She's never gotten the hold of the jutsu I learned for my strength techniques for instance but Sakura might have the skills needed to be able to learn it fully."

Now that was a surprise for the old man, to think that maybe with some training under Jiraiya and Tsunade and who knew who else, maybe Kakashi's boast might come into being. That would certainly be something to see, another team that could go to the heights of the Sannin was something he thought he wouldn't see again in his life time. Well now it looked like he had something interesting to look into in his new retirement. That was another thing he would have to think about, he would have to think on what to do now.

Perhaps he could teach or something? He was named the 'Professor' for a reason, plus he could spend more time with his grandchild which would be nice.

"You alright?" Tsunade noticed him getting a little quiet all of a sudden.

He only gave a small smile in reply. "Just thinking about the future is all. So when is the big day for yourself?"

Tsunade made a face, "You know I always hated ceremonies, can't I just take the damn hat and get to work? After all you did leave me a pretty big mess to clean up for you old man."

"Tsunade," he chastised her like she was a genin again.

"Fine," She sighed slightly annoyed she had to go through it all. "Jiraiya is dealing with the issues now he's supposed to get back to me later today about it."

Tsunade looked over her village at some of the damage she could see, it would be repaired as buildings were easy to replace. Part of her wished she had been here, she might have been able to save some lives. She stopped herself thinking that, for too long she had spent trapped in the past, thinking of what could have been. She knew now she couldn't change the past only learn from it and move forward. Looking at the mountain with the faces of two of her relatives on it she made a promise to those first two stones faces.

She promised that she would never forget the village again and she would make them proud of her as Hokage.

**Next up Chapter 12: Good Times**

**I would have done a bit more, but I'm a little sick now I'm amazed I got this out being sick for at least the last two days while writing this. **


	12. Good Times

**I want to thank everyone that takes the time to actually review the story given all the work and time I put into writing them.**

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 12: Good Times**

It was an early morning and Anko grumbled as she got out of bed, it had been actually a decent night's sleep, the first she had in awhile but there was still something nagging at her. She looked at herself in the mirror before slashing some water on her face before looking back. Then she hung her head and groaned.

"You stupid idiot...why did you have to say that to him?" She moaned out. She couldn't believe she had said that to Kakashi, that she loved him. She was an idiot, she hadn't even stayed to hear any kind of answer she just dropped that bombshell on him and left. Why did she have to go and do that right after he woke up?

"You moron," she moaned again wanting to bang her head against the sink. Why did she have to complicate their relationship so soon?

So Anko did her usual morning routine dreading what Kakashi's response would be. What if he didn't feel the same way or worse what if that freaked him out and spooked him away? Those kinds of thoughts depressed her more than she liked. She was just eating her cereal thinking about what could happen to her and Kakashi. This was why she never got into this kind of relationship before, she hated the kinds of feelings it brought up. But she had said it, it was out there and now the ball was in Kakashi's court.

With yet another sigh she thought of other things, she needed to think of something else to get her mind off the topic. Then suddenly she did have something hit her that did spark a little interests. If she was going to suffer the drama of relationships she wasn't going to go through this alone. Kurenai and her had made a deal after all and maybe it was time for Kurenai to own up to her end of the bargain. It would certainly take her mind off things as she got dressed and rushed out to find her friend.

It took a few hours of searching but she did eventually find Kurenai in her team's training area. Apparently she was alone doing some personal training this was perfect as she landed near Kurenai.

"Hey, no rug rats today?" Anko looked around.

"Apparently Naruto wanted to show off something and it turned out all the genins are going over to the Hyuga compound," she explained to her as she stretched out a bit. "So I decided to take some time for some training, being a jonin sensei I don't have the same free time for that like I used to."

"Yeah one of the reasons I never got into that," Anko said as she walked casually towards her. "So, Kakashi is going to make a full recovery."

Kurenai nodded with a smile, "I know, I bet you're happy about that."

Anko felt her face slightly warm up but pushed that down, "yeah, yeah well at any rate it is good he's going to be okay. So...I guess there is only one thing left then."

Kurenai gave a confused look at her wondering what she was getting at. Anko smiled coyly as she gave her friend a impish look.

"Oh? Did someone forget our deal?"

Kurenai's face suddenly went red as she remembered the deal, since Anko toughed it out it was now Kurenai's turn to follow through and actually ask out Asuma. Honestly she had no idea why she had made that deal, originally it had just been a way to get Anko out of her depression and a part of her had hoped that when Kakashi was awake and okay that Anko would have forgotten all about it. Well that plan was out the window. Maybe she could put it off or something she really didn't feel up to doing it.

"Well maybe when Kakashi is up and about then we can-" but she never got to finish.

"Oh hell no, we're doing this right now so I can see it and make sure that you actually follow through with it." Anko told her and then grabbed her arm. "And I think I saw him earlier so you're doing it right now."

"What! I-I can't do it now," Kurenai protested but Anko kept dragging her along.

"Oh, are you sneaking out on our deal?' Anko asked her slyly knowing full well that Kurenai wasn't the type to just slip out of a deal, at least not straight up. Seeing that Kurenai had no real defense Anko just dragged her along. Kurenai tried to make up more excuses like that she should clean up, but Anko just said that he had seen Kurenai in worse shape before during missions and such. For every excuse, Anko had a reply to it. It was very damn inconvenient to have a friend that worked in Konoha's intelligence branch, the woman knew too much on how to get in someone's head at times.

Anko was near giddy with excitement this was just what she needed. It was great to have someone that she could embarrass to get her mind off her own issues for a bit. She had a good feeling that Asuma would take Kurenai up on the offer of a date it would just be priceless to see her try. Finally Kurenai had seemed to stop trying to get out of it, most likely having run out of excuses. It took some time and a little asking around but eventually they found him.

He was walking the streets smoking one of his cigarettes as he sometimes did.

"Well there he is, now go get him girl," Anko pushed her forward as Kurenai glared back at her.

For a brief moment she was considering why she was friends with this woman when she turned her attention back to Asuma. He noticed her and gave a small smile and a nod of his head. Kurenai felt her throat dry up trying to steady herself. She could do this, she had been on dangerous missions where she had nearly died so asking him out shouldn't be too hard. Yet her hands were still slightly clammy as her nerves were jumping. She mentally cursed herself as she got a hold of herself, chiding herself for acting like some kind of teenage girl with a crush.

Granted she really did like him, he had that bad boy look to him yet he was very warm, kind and he made her laugh at times as well. She took a breath and walked up to him trying to put on a natural smile and also trying to forget that Anko was only a few feet away obviously watching the whole thing.

'_What am I to her, entertainment?'_ Kurenai darkly thought but pushed that aside.

"Hey Kurenai, what's up?"

"Hello Asuma," Kurenai was thankful her voice didn't waver at all but it still didn't sound totally natural to her in that moment. "So...how are things?" she mentally slapped herself _that _was the best she could think of an opener?

Asuma shrugged a bit, "Not much all the genin seem to want the day off for something, most likely welcoming Naruto back. I figured with them back they would all want to catch up. So I'm pretty much a little bored. No new missions or anything lately which I don't think we'll get until the new Hokage is put into place officially."

"Yeah same thing with me," she replied and heard Anko giving a slight cough. She could tell what that meant 'get on with it already, well she would if Anko would stick her nose out of it.

Asuma gave a slight look to Anko wondering why she was watching them for some reason he was about to ask her how Kakashi was but noticed Kurenai was about to speak again. She seemed slightly nervous about something, what he had no idea. She was usually so solid and graceful all the time, and he had noticed. It was hard not to notice a woman like her, although now with the slight blush on her cheeks she seemed to go from beauty to slightly cute.

"W-well I was wondering if you aren't busy that we could, well...we could have dinner some time."

Anko nearly burst out laughing at Asuma's expression, poor guy looked like he had just been hit between the eyes with a hammer. It was hilarious and she kicked herself to not bringing a camera this was a moment she should have preserved.

"You and me?" Asuma blinked making sure that he had heard right.

"Yes," Kurenai felt slightly embarrassed how this was going as she thought that he was going to turn her down. That was something that would ruin her day, if he did she would feel like an idiot, blame Anko and then just find somewhere to go be alone and maybe find out if she had any ice cream left.

Asuma then got a smile on his face, "Sure I would like that."

"You would?" Kurenai wasn't sure what to say she honestly wasn't really expecting that. Although the giant warm feeling she was getting at the fact that he said yes.

"Of course I would," He scratched the back of his head looking a little nervous. "I was kind of hoping you would ask, I was kind of thinking of asking you out soon but with everything going on I never got the chance."

"Y-you were?" Now it was her turn to be dumbfounded and she didn't even notice Anko holding a hand over her mouth and the other over her stomach.

"Yeah I was, so anywhere you wanted to go?"

Kurenai felt like she wanted to laugh, here she was getting all worked up and he was going to ask her out eventually anyway. She felt like she nearly could just fall down suddenly. Finally noticing Anko's enjoyment made her think maybe it was time to cut the woman's fun short. She walked over to Asuma and gently took his arm in hers as she started to lead him away.

"Well let's talk about that, just us," She gave a look to Anko that said not to follow them or else.

Anko pouted and stuck her tongue out at her friend for spoiling her fun so soon. Anko watched them go and had to admit it was about time. She let out a little laugh at something that popped into her head.

"Oh god, Anko Mitarashi the love guide," She shook her head at how absurd that sounded. If Kakashi heard that he might laugh too. And now she was thinking back to that problem and groaned with her shoulders and head slumping.

"I need dango," She moaned. "Dango fixes everything."

**-Hyuga Compound-**

Naruto was excited for a few reasons one being that he was going to see Hinata and the other he was going to show up what he had learned. This was going to be great, although which one he was more excited for he wasn't sure. He rushed over to the main gate with the two branch family members there who kept an eye on things. He never got tired of that joke as he grinned at the thought. He said hello to them who only nodded in response, the guys on duty here were always so serious.

He remembered once when he thought he would loosen them up with a small prank back when he did that stuff. They hadn't thought it funny and banned him for a week from entering the place. Honestly some people had no sense of humor, he was sure the dye would have gotten out of their clothing after all and it wasn't permanent to the skin.

He made his way to the large opened area he knew was the personal training ground he was hoping to find Hinata already there. Being here for years he had a pretty good idea of the layout of the compound. The place was always so neat and orderly that he wondered if they cleaned the place every day or they just knew how to keep clean. His dad always had to get him to clean up his room, Naruto still proclaimed that it wasn't a mess, it was just ordered chaos. His dad never bought that line no matter how he tired to spin it.

He got to the open space and he was surprised to see that Hinata was there but so was a lot others. He noticed that Neji was there with his teammates, Hinata's father, uncle and younger sister were there as well. He noticed Sakura who was with Ino and her team and then there was also Konohamaru.

"What the hell is everyone doing here?" Naruto yelled out surprised.

"Well I was talking to Ino and said you had this new technique you had and were going to show it off," Sakura started off a little embarrassed how it happened. She had just been catching up with Ino when she had said it. Actually she hadn't even gotten to the point of all the new training they had gone through or the trouble, when Ino wanted to see what kind of technique. Her teammates had been there and Choji was interested, Shikamaru however was just along for the ride because he was bored anyway.

Naruto looked to Neji and his team.

Neji coughed into his fist, "I might have mentioned it."

"Yes and I wanted to see what Naruto-kun's new jutsu is!" Lee shouted out excited. When he had heard about it he nearly wanted to sleep right in the compound to make sure he saw it. Neji forbad it and promised to take him himself to show it if he calmed down. Tenten was there mainly one part curiosity and another not to be let out of the group. Well that and she was wondering if Sasuke would be there, he had made some comments at her that she didn't really mind. Plus Neji seemed to get jealous and it was a unique side to him she never saw. Too bad he wasn't here although Neji had been handing close to her the entire time.

Naruto then looked to Konohamaru and Hanabi she just shrugged not even bothering to explain to him. She had just mentioned it yesterday to Konohamaru and he wanted to see it himself.

Naruto sighed as his shoulders slumped he was kind of hoping to impress just Hinata but then again he still was at least. "Alright then, let's do this!"

He found a dummy had been set up this was a very good straw one that had line patterns in it not to mention small dots on the lines. He knew from asking once before this was used by the Hyuga clan for helping to train in their gentle fist style. Well if he had an audience he was going to enjoy it then he figured. Cracking his knuckles he made a clone as he put out one of his hands. The clone quickly got to work as the clone's hands were nearly a blur of motion as he helped to form the sphere.

Everyone who hadn't seen it were very focused on it although Hinata's father and uncle however they were quickly surprised.

"That can't be what I think it is," Hizashi couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had seen this only used by one man and that had been years ago, nearly a lifetime ago.

Hiashi activated his eyes as he took a closer look at the chakra pattern in the boy's hand. There was no mistaking it, the one jutsu that was made famous by the Fourth Hokage, the original jutsu that had been made famous by him.

"It is," he simply told his younger twin.

Soon the chakra ball was finally formed as everyone saw the pure sphere of power as he rushed forward and slammed it into the dummy.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted out as it tore the dummy to pieces, shredding it and sending the pieces flying out all over the place. He quickly turned around to raise a victory sign in the air with his free hand with a triumphant yell. "Oh yeah how do you like that?"

"The hell was that?" Ino muttered impressed by it.

"Man first exploding clones and now this," Shikamaru shook his head. "I swear it's like he only uses the most destructive things he can get his hands on. If he keeps this up I don't think I want to be near him in a fight."

Although it was made in a joke he was already making plans on how to keep out of Naruto's way in case they did end up fighting together one day on a mission. It wasn't easy with how unpredictable Naruto could be at times.

"That was most impressive Naruto-kun," Lee looked all fired up by the demonstration. "I shall train myself even harder than ever to make up a move that can go head to head with that technique!"

Lee's teammates sighed in unison it would take Lee months to get over this that is if he did. He most likely would train himself to near death just to make a new technique that could be as impressive as what Naruto had shown them. Which meant that they would be either dragged into it with him or they would have to keep an eye on Lee to make sure he didn't overdue things too much as he usually did. It was a good thing Gai wasn't here, he would be supporting Lee and the two might have run off at that moment to get a head start.

"That was awesome Naruto-niichan!" Konohamaru yelled out as he looked at his idol. "Can you teach me that?"

"Maybe, I'll want to see if I can do it with only my own hands," Naruto was a bit disappointed that he needed a clone but maybe if he could get some time with his dad and Jiraiya he could figure out a way to use it with only his hands.

"Aww I really wanted something impressive," Konohamaru muttered to himself.

"So what do you think Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked his girlfriend.

She smiled as she nodded her head, "It was really impressive, I didn't know you could make a jutsu without hand seals like that."

"Oh yeah it's great like that," Naruto grinned under his mask at her although then his stomach growled. He had been so excited he had forgotten that it was close to lunch. Hinata giggled as he blushed slightly embarrassed. Soon the genins had decided to eat in the courtyard together as they broke into groups. Hyuga branch members helped with the food as blankets were put on the grass as the more polite ones thanked them for the hard work.

Hiashi didn't join but he did watch from the front of the house deep in thought as he looked at Naruto on a blanket with Hinata, Hanabi and Konohamaru. From the exaggerated gestures and the expressions on their faces, he figured that the boy was telling them about their latest mission as the younger ones looked most interested. His daughter had a worried look on her face but it soon turned to relief. He sighed knowing that his daughter's feelings for the boy were a bit of a complication.

Hyuga members, especially main branch members usually married within the clan, there were exceptions of course. They needed new blood now and then but he had looked in the family history and so far there was no precedence for someone who was either the head or would take the mantle of head of their clan, had married anyone outside of the clan.

He allowed the relationship knowing his daughter needed some kind of happiness as clan life could be very hard at times as he tried to prepare them for that as best he could. If this continued on Naruto would have to prove himself to the elders that he was worthy to marry into the clan, to marry Hinata, well the boy had a major battle ahead of him. Although this little show might have been the first time Hiashi thought that the boy might have a chance. To learn and use a jutsu that only a handful of people knew about, one used by the most famous and respected ninja of their village would help.

He knew that others would have seen the display and already he would bet money that word was getting around.

"You are in deep thought brother," Hizashi came up behind him.

Hiashi nodded, "Yes I have a lot on my mind."

"I think I have a guess at what too," he followed his brother's gaze. "It's nice seeing you worry about her future."

"Her future is tied to the whole clan," Hiashi told him. "I know I'm hard on them but you know I have to be I just hope she's strong enough for what's to come."

Hizashi got a bit more serious as he knew what his older brother was talking about. "You think they would force the issue?"

"Yes they would, thankfully it's a few years off but the Elders like to plan ahead."

"Have they picked the candidate yet?"

Hiashi shook his head, "No or I would have been informed and then asked my opinion. I can only push things away so far, when she comes of age Naruto will have to be able to prove himself or he will have to give up on her or Hinata will be forced to make a very difficult choice."

Hizashi sighed, "Sometimes clan politics are a cruel and gruesome thing."

The twin nodded although it was the only thing they had, it had kept the clan strong and alive in the hard times before Konoha and kept the clan going. You couldn't just get rid of generations of history, culture and tradition but at times he wished they were easier to change. He watched his daughters enjoying themselves if he couldn't prevent what was to come he could at least give them small moments like this.

While some of the boys were gathered together, the girls decided to get together as well as Sakura and Ino invited Tenten to sit with them as Sakura filled them in on their adventure. Tenten was glad for it, she really didn't have any female friends her own age, oh sure she knew some girls from school that had been in her grade but she never really saw them much anymore after she was put on Gai's team. It was nice to bond with other female ninja now and then. Although she couldn't believe Sakura's luck and she pretty much said as much.

"This is so unfair," Tenten moaned. "I can't believe you not only met Tsunade but actually spent time with her, I would kill for that."

"Really?" Sakura asked her.

"Well maybe not literally kill but she's my idol," Tenten explained to them. "She's the best female ninja of our village, ever since I read about her I wanted to be just like her. She's so strong and has done so much she's proven that females can be just as good if not better than men at this life and I wanted to follow in that. I trained so hard so that one day I could be seen like that one day."

"And now apparently she's going to be Hokage," Ino supplied to the bun haired girl. "Look on the bright side when we get missions you can meet her all the time now."

That did seem to brighten Tenten up a bit and got her looking forward to her first mission assigned by Tsunade.

"Well she's...interesting," Sakura didn't want to burst Tenten's bobble about Tsunade's less than stellar points, like the gambling and all the drinking. "Although she is a tough teacher."

"How do you know that?" Both girls asked.

Sakura hadn't gotten to that part of her story just yet, "Well I asked if I could train under her in medical jutsu. Given my team they need someone to look after them and watch their backs and she agreed."

"What!" Both girls shouted out.

"So you're going to get training under the Hokage?" Ino couldn't believe that Sakura was getting this.

Tenten moaned again, "This is so unfair I would love to be trained under her."

"W-well it is medical jutsu," Sakura told Tenten seeing the slightly depressed look on her face. "I mean do you have any talent for it? You need really good chakra control, that's what Tsunade told me and said that I was good enough in it to be trained in medical jutsu."

Tenten mulled that over and she hated to admit it but her chakra control was about average, her skills were always more in weapons. From what she could remember Tsunade was not known to using weapons. Still she would have liked some instruction from her idol if only from pointers from someone of her experience.

"I think she's getting more depressed," Ino whispered to Sakura who nodded.

"Well I could ask her if you can meet her, I'm sure she would be up to it."

Tenten's mood brightened instantly as her eyes seemed to have a gleam in them. "Really? You would really do that? Oh thank you-thank you-thank you! If you can pull this off you'll be my best friend for life!"

"Here I thought I was her best friend," Ino muttered to herself watching as Tenten was hugging Sakura very tightly. It was kind of funny seeing the older girl like this as she didn't know much about Tenten but as far as she could tell the girl was alright.

"So how come Sasuke-kun didn't show up?" Ino looked around hoping that the boy was just going to be a little late.

"He's kind of busy," Sakura knew that he most likely just wanted to be left alone for a bit. After the mission when they had learned that Itachi had been here must have brought back a lot of unpleasant memories but she was still worried about him. She was going to see him later and hope he was better.

"He's just trying to perfect a new jutsu that he learned while on the mission is all," Sakura supplied the lie she didn't like doing it but sometimes you just had to at times.

"Well I'm sure he'll get it down in no time," Ino smiled happily. "He's the best after all and I don't think there is anything he can't do."

"Well I don't know about that," Tenten frowned slightly. "I mean Neji is pretty good too."

"Neji looks nice and all but don't you find that long hair kind of girly?" Ino asked. "I like my men with a shorter hair to be honest."

"I think his hair looks just fine," Tenten huffed before blushing as she realized how that sounded. "Not that I noticed!"

Ino got a bit of an evil looking glint in her eyes she thought she picked up on something juicy. "Oh ho, do I detect something going on with you and Neji?"

"No you don't," Tenten said even sterner yet she seemed to blush even more.

Sakura rolled her eyes, the girl wasn't very honest and now Ino was going to pester her all day about this. She just hoped the girl could survive Ino when she wanted the good gossip.

**Next up Chapter 13: Feelings**


	13. Feelings

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 13: Feelings**

It had been a couple of days in the hospital and Kakashi wanted to get out, his son had shown up every day which was nice. Plus Naruto brought him some books to read which helped to pass the time as well. The only problem was that he couldn't focus on the books for long because his mind kept going back to a few days ago and to what Anko said to him. She hadn't even shown up yet, most likely avoiding him for the time being.

You can't just drop a bomb like that and leave but she had anyway and so here he was his mind going back to that moment as he thought about his relationship with her. He thought back to when they had first met all those years ago. She had been this strange teenaged girl with a chip on her shoulder for good reason. That time he was still in ABNU and he went on that mission with her and a few others because she thought she remembered something about Orochimaru. It had turned out to be a dead end but on that mission he had gotten to know her. Over the years she had become a bigger part of his life, becoming part of his core group of friends and a surrogate 'aunt' for Naruto as well.

Then things had changed and she went to an old friend to him seeing her as a woman, someone attractive, sexy and playful. Someone he liked having in his life, she added spice to a dull day and he felt like he could be open with her. He could let his guard down and he noticed the same with her. Then there was the sex life which was great so that was a nice bonus.

He thought about when Naruto had been gone off with Jiraiya and the team. She had practically lived at his place, she still had a toothbrush and some spare clothing at his place. They had basically been living together at times and neither one of them had even once thought about it. It just seemed kind of natural. Yeah it hadn't been perfect of course, there had been times she had annoyed him with how she had rearranged some of his things but he was fairly sure he did a few things that might have annoyed her. He certainly remembered to lower the toilet seat after that first time she hadn't noticed, she had been really mad at him for that.

When Naruto had been gone and Anko had been either at her own apartment or off on a mission, he found just how lonely his home seemed without either of them. For years he had Naruto there and he got used to not living alone. He had forgotten how it was when he walked through the front door to a quiet home and no one there. It was an empty feeling both in the house and in himself he found himself missing Naruto there to excited to see him back or when Anko had been there already and welcomed him home.

He remembered their first night together when Anko had been there at breakfast with both himself and Naruto, sure it had taken Naruto by surprise but the three of them together at the table had seemed right to him. So after all this time thinking he found that he wanted Anko in his life, he didn't want to lose her. Itachi's image of him torturing her showed him the deeps of his feelings and after she had told him that she loved him well he knew what he had to do now. The doctor told him that he needed a day more of rest but honestly Kakashi couldn't wait that long.

He knew he would get chewed out for it but he'd been chewed out before, all he had to do was just stand there and pretend to listen after all. The nurse wasn't due to arrive until a few hours, plenty of time. Kakashi pushed the sheets away and opened the window. He took a quick look to make sure no one was looking in his direction before making his escape.

**-Hatake Home-**

It had been a long day and Naruto was a little tired, he had fun showing off for Hinata and everyone plus then they all caught up on what everyone was doing. It was odd how Sasuke hadn't been there but then again he had never been for groups. But still it had been a pretty cool afternoon and it was great spending time with Hinata as well. He even managed to ask her if she could meet him tomorrow afternoon. He giggled like his dad sometimes did as Naruto thought of tomorrow. It would be just the two of them and he had an idea to make sure if any Hyuga might be looking out for them.

He was about to go looking through the ramen cupboard before he heard a knock on the door.

Groaning at how his meal time would be pushed back, he walked to the front door. It was a good thing he hadn't even had time to pull off his mask yet he figured. He opened the door and the last thing Naruto expected was to see Sakura standing there.

"Hey Naruto can I come in, there's something that's been bothering me and I want to talk to you about it."

"Well okay," He opened the door to let her in as his mind was racing with what could be the problem. It couldn't be one of those 'girl' problems as he liked to think about them, she had Ino for that kind of stuff. She did look a little stressed, nothing major but her shoulders did seem stiff and it looked like she had a something important on her mind.

He led her to the living room as she took a chair and he took the couch.

"So...what's up then?"

Sakura sighed as she he been thinking about this problem all the way here. "I think there might be something wrong with Sasuke-kun."

"What do you mean?" He blinked trying to figure out what she meant.

"Haven't you noticed that he's been kind of distant?"

"How is that any different from normal?" He joked.

"Naruto I'm being serious here!" Slight anger flared up in her.

Naruto waved his hands in front of him in defence, "Sorry, sorry! I couldn't help it but you know he's usually is distant and kind of moody at times. He's always so serious and stuff so I never really noticed any change." Which was true and one of the reasons why he had always tried to prank Sasuke in school, it was fun to get a rise out of him, kind of like with Neji. The serious types were always so easy to push and how they kept trying to not react he just found hilarious. Like the time when he had used that head hunter technique and pulled Sasuke into the ground while Naruto had read from one of his dad's books.

Sure Naruto had gotten into deep trouble for it but it had so been worth it.

Sakura continued on, "Well ever since he heard about his brother being here he's been even more closed off. I'm a bit worried that he's fixating on Itachi and that, well I don't know, I'm just starting to worry about him. I was hoping you could come with me to talk as I figured he might talk to one of us."

He had tried earlier herself but he had evaded that. Something was bothering him and he was doing something unhealthy about it. "I was hoping we could see him tomorrow and talk about it."

"I uh...kind of had a date planned with Hinata-chan," he said scratching the back of his head. Although Sakura did seem pretty worried but with his dad in the hospital and showing off for Hinata he hadn't really been paying attention. Part of him was kicking himself if he had missed something like this. He had been so focused on his own life had he really just not noticed? Now he was starting o feel a bit guilty if he had.

"Oh," Sakura looked a little downcast, "well I won't get in the way of that so no worries."

"How about we just ambush him in the morning then?" Naruto offered as this way they could do both at least he hoped so. If this took all day he was going to be pissed if it ruined the afternoon. "I mean that way we'll know for sure he should be home and we won't leave until he starts talking."

Sakura was thankful that he was up for this, she was starting to worry and wanted to talk to him but he seemed to have put up a wall ever since he learned about Itachi.

"Thanks for this Naruto."

He only smiled back at her, "Hey it's no problem we're all a team and when someone on the team needs some help we should be there right?"

"Right." Suddenly a very noticeable growling was heard from Naruto's stomach as the boy looked a little embarrassed. She smiled at him, "I take it you were about to eat huh?"

"Ah yeah," Naruto scratched the back of his head. "You want some, because I can make more."

"Instance ramen?" She asked knowing the answer his look told her that he had nailed it. "I'll pass my mom is cooking and I don't want to keep my parents waiting." She got up to leave thanking him one more time before going. She hoped that she was just over reacting but Sasuke's attitude was just giving her a very bad feeling.

**-Anko's Apartment-**

Anko walked through her front door, kicking lightly closed with her heel behind her. She shrugged off her coat and put it on the hook by the door as she sighed and rolled her shoulders. She was slightly sweaty from training. After the dango she found she needed something else to keep her mind occupied and had just spent a good time putting herself through a long training session. Now she just wanted a nice long bath, maybe she would go to the hot springs that was always a good way to relax her body.

She went into her bedroom to set out some non-sweaty clothing when she felt a presence behind her. Training kicked in as she pulled a kunai out of her pouch and quickly turned around to placed the tip against the neck of whoever snuck into her place.

"Whoa there Anko," Kakashi said calmly.

Anko's eyes widened, "The hell are you doing, you trying to get killed?" She sighed and put the weapon away. She couldn't believe he had snuck into her apartment, for a moment she was wondering how he even got in but given who he was she bet that the simple locks on her doors and windows wouldn't really stop any real ninja if they wanted to get in. Then she remembered that he had a key to her place, she was starting to regret it when they had exchanged keys now.

"Wait," she turned to face him as a new thought hit her. "Are you out of the hospital now?"

He gave her an eye-smile as he scratched the back of his head, "I sort of let myself out."

That actually gave her a small laugh that was just like him to sneak out if he wanted to. "You now they're going to be pissed that you left, I heard the nurses like to use the very large needles now on patients that cause them trouble."

"I'll deal with it," He said calmly to her. "I wanted to talk to you."

"About what? Oh I know the new Hokage," She said quickly trying to control the conversation. She knew full well why he was here and she was hoping that if she could control the conversation it wouldn't lead to it. If it could work she would talk until he gave up, it wasn't much of a plan but it was the only plan she had.

"I mean it's great to have a woman in charge for once," she went on. "First female Hokage, I kind of look forward to that."

"Well I'm sure she'll do great," He said trying to get into the conversation.

"Oh yeah Kurenai and Asuma are going on a date later too."

"Yes that's nice-wait what?" Kakashi wasn't sure he heard that one correctly at first.

Anko grinned at him, "You should have seen her asking him out it was so cute and funny as hell. You should have been there for it."

"Well it is about time," Kakashi admitted as he had seen those two dancing around each other.

"Yeah you think we should double date with them?" She asked him moving deeper into her bedroom acting like everything was normal and ignoring the elephant in the room. "It might be pretty funny to see what they look like on a date."

"Anko stop avoiding the subject," Kakashi was getting a little impatient with her now.

"Avoid what?" She asked innocently which was a very good job since she knew full well what he was talking about.

"You know what."

Anko could see he was serious as she signed and went to sit on her bed looking glum. "Do we have to? I mean can't we just pretend it didn't happen?"

Kakashi pulled a chair by a small desk in front of her as he sat down eye to eye with her. "I can't do that."

"Well why not?" She asked him nearly exasperated. "I mean it was a stupid thing to do and it was kind of a major bomb I dropped on you."

"I admit I was pretty much taken by surprise," he admitted as at first he hadn't been sure he heard her right.

"Oh god why do I always screw things like this up?" She pleaded into her hands as she rested her face in them.

Kakashi was really wondering where all this was coming from until he suddenly got what she might be afraid of. She was afraid that he wouldn`t feel the same and that it would be really awkward for them in their relationship. He could see her point of view, he hadn`t said those three little words to her because before now he hadn`t been sure of their relationship. But he knew what was in his heart now and who was in it.

"Anko you didn't screw anything up," He pulled off his mask as she leaned in close and pulled her hands away making her look at him. He felt nervous about this, he had never said the words he was going to say to another woman before. He felt his hands getting slightly clammy and his throat was getting dry. He had rehearsed it a lot of times in his head but actually doing it was a lot harder than he thought but she deserved to know how he felt after what she said.

"I had a lot of time to think about it and I want you to know something Anko." He took a breath. "I love you too."

Anko stared at him with wide eyes as of course she had the most elegant response ready for him.

"Wha?"

Okay well maybe not her finest hour in that regards.

He chuckled never having seen her like this totally surprised and caught unprepared. It was kind of funny really but he did his best not to laugh, he knew if he laughed now she would get anger with him. And an angry Anko wasn't pleasant.

He did smile at her, "I told you that I love you too."

Anko blinked before she could speak to him again. "You're not just saying that? You know I said it and now you feel that you have to say it in order to not make things weird between us. Because if you are saying just because of that let me tell you that-" She never got to finish before Kakashi figured actions would speak louder than words with her.

He cupped her face as she kissed her deeply letting all his emotions into the kiss. It took her a moment to respond as her hands reached up to his own head pulling him in for a deeper kiss. Soon she found herself on her back on her bed with Kakashi on top of her as the two were in a passionate kiss that could steal your breath away. Eventually they had to come up for air as Kakashi pulled away looking down at her flushed face.

"Now do you believe me?"

"Yeah...I guess that would do it," Anko breathed deeply as a part of her felt actually giddy at this. Never would she have thought that this moment in her life would come. She was actually in love, the younger more cynical self would never had believe it, let alone that the man she fell for felt the same. She had never been one for things like romance or relationships. She always felt that was something that happened to others. So she just couldn't figure out how it was that when she hadn't even been trying, she fell into just that.

"So...what now?" Kakashi asked her.

"Well I was going to take a shower."

"Yeah I noticed." He grunted when he felt her punch him in the kidney. "Sorry, sorry."

She glared up at him, "You know I was going to ask you to help me wash up but if you're going to be an ass about it then maybe you should go back into that lonely hospital bed while I get out of these clothing and wash up on my own."

"I said I was sorry," Kakashi told her not wanting to go back to the hospital just yet. Plus the image she had just put into his mind really didn't want him to go back. "Can't I make it up to you?"

She paused before grinning, "Well you can start by getting off me and then you can help me out of these clothing."

He grinned back at her, "I think I can do that."

**-Sasuke's Home -**

It was late and Sasuke had been training for so long he had lost track of time. Currently he was covered in sweat as he was using his sword against a wooden training dummy. It was fully of cuts more of them had been added in just the last two hours. His breathing was deep and ragged his arms were tired and hurting. He couldn't even hold the sword up anymore but he still felt that same burning sensation in his soul.

Itachi had been here while he was away, his brother who had destroyed his entire clan and family had dared come back here. Itachi had walked right into the village but it hadn't been to finish what he had started all those years ago. He had come here looking for Naruto of all things, Kakashi had ended up in the hospital and then Itachi had left as easily as he had gotten in.

All his life Sasuke felt that this village was a place where Itachi would never come back to, for weeks after the massacre he had been afraid that his older brother would come back to finish him off. But it never came, deep inside he felt that the walls of this village would keep him safe long enough to train and be better than Itachi. For the day he was ready to go after his brother and finally end this long nightmare once and for all.

He dropped to the ground letting go of his sword.

Sasuke felt a lot of emotions lately and he felt like his mind was in the middle of a whirlwind. All his life had been dedicated to bringing his brother down for his crimes and in the end, Itachi hadn't been interested in Sasuke. All these years and did he mean nothing to his brother after everything? Sasuke clenched his teeth and balled his fists. That thought really burned him as he felt his pride being trampled on.

If Kakashi hadn't been able to beat his brother than Sasuke saw that he needed to get stronger than even Kakashi. He needed to become a lot stronger he needed power as if he fought Itachi now Sasuke knew that he wouldn't win.

He grunted out in pain as the curse seal on his neck flared up, his hand clamped onto it as he felt the burning pain. He felt it trying to activate as he forced it back down. He still remembered the rush he felt when it had been activated in the Forest of Death but he had been warned about it. Although he respected Kakashi's warnings about the curse seal he needed to be stronger. He needed to be better than he was now or else he would never come close to beating Itachi. He glared at the training dummy in front of him, he looked at the marks on it and he still felt like he wasn't good enough.

He needed to be faster and more accurate, he couldn't get into a dragged out fight with Itachi. Not only that Sasuke still haven't fully awakened his eyes, on eye only had one mark and the other had two. Both needed to be at three marks to reach their full potential and he needed to bring that out.

All these years and just when he felt like he was getting closer to his goal, something like this happened to remind him of just how much longer he needed to go. It was like climbing a mountain only to realize that the damn thing kept getting taller. All the work he had put himself through, all the blood, sweat and pain he had put his body through to become a ninja that was capable of defeating his brother now felt like it was a joke.

The new jutsu he learned might not be enough, he needed to learn more and train more. He needed power but could he really use the mark on his neck for it? Sasuke just didn't know anymore, he could feel the pain of the seal finally fading away into nothing. Panting Sasuke clenched his fists into the soft earth he was on feeling so helpless and powerless and he hated that feeling. Getting up after a rest he picked up his blade as he went into his empty home. It wasn't empty of items just empty of people, for so long this place had felt empty to him only the ghosts of the past seem to roam the halls.

There was a time when this place had been full of life but this house only had him in it now. Some rooms he never even went into anymore just because of how painful they were and left them to the dust and spiders. He placed the sword on a table and went into his room it was dark in there as he fell onto his bed.

He looked to his left at the nightstand to see a picture of his family there was the younger him all smiling and happy with his parents. His mother was beaming while his father looked serious as usual. The image was also torn as Sasuke had ripped all images of Itachi from any photo he could find. He wanted no reminders of his brother in this house he didn't want to look at that man's face again. But still, all the damaged photos, the empty feeling of the house, they were all constant reminders of his brother and of that night.

Even if he had moved to his own place it would still be the same. Some days it felt like he never left that night. That his entire life was all just one long night that never ended, pushing the thoughts aside he wanted to just sleep. He hardly ever dreamed anymore, or at least he didn't remember if he did. That was fine for him. He fell into the darkness as his tired body gave out on trying to keep awake. In the morning he would train even harder and try see if there was any way he could one day become strong enough to end his long night and maybe finally see the sun rise in his life.

**Next up Chapter 14: Team Intervention**

**Hey this would have been out yesterday but I felt it needed a bit more so I added in this last scene to help tie in the next chapter.**


	14. Team Intevention

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 14: Team Intervention**

Sasuke woke up with the dawn hitting his face as he groaned and turned around as he didn't feel like getting up just yet. Not many knew this but sometimes he just didn't want to wake up, sometimes he preferred his dreams which were rare. He had been dreaming of when he had been younger on a day his parents took him to the park. It was one of the few really happy memories he had of his childhood, part of him wanted to stay there but the dawn had pretty much seemed to want to rip him from that time.

Reluctantly he got up and signed as he slowly went to the bathroom he showered and changed as he silently went to the kitchen. That was something he didn't do when he was home, talk. Most people took such a thing for granted but when you lived alone you never talked. It was a strange thing to miss but the fact that how silent his life was when he was home only seemed to echo the hollow feel of the house and his personal life here. The house always had this empty and cold feel to it but then it wasn't like he had much say in that.

Sometimes when he sat down at the table ghosts from the past would haunt his waking world, he would remember the smell of the food his mother would make, her soft voice as she said good morning to them all. His father's presence as he silently ate and read something, his brother there asking him what the plans for today where. Sometimes Sasuke would yearn for those simple days, sometimes he felt his eyes sting with tears threatening to spill out but they didn't.

He had cried a lot when he was younger when he woke up from his coma to find his life in ruins. He had cried so much he felt that he had cried all the tears he had in this life. He honestly didn't have any more tears to shed anymore. He would look at the empty chairs and for a moment he could almost feel the presence of his family again. But it was gone just as suddenly and he was back again alone. He silently ate his breakfast and then picked up his sword he would clean it and start training again. There was nothing for him to do with Kakashi still in the hospital and he hadn't received any summons for missions either.

Sometimes he used training as a way to center himself, to throw his whole being into. When he trained he had a goal and he could push all the pain away. His whole world became the training and there wasn't anything other than that.

Not far away two other young genin were walking through the old Uchiha district. Naruto Hatake and Sakura Haruno looked around as they walked the area. Although the massacre had happened years ago the area seemed to be stained forever by it. They had heard the stories how if you walked down certain streets at night or on the anniversary of that night you could hear the cried of the dying. How ghosts would haunt certain parts of the area. Kids looking for parents that were long dead, lovers dying together by Itachi's blade and other gruesome tales since there had only been one survivor.

Others had eventually bought up the area, stores were opened, houses were moved into by others and live returned but there was still that uneasy feeling. Only Sasuke's house remained as the last thing of the Uchiha that still stood. All other signs of the Uchiha were long gone the old clan symbols were removed or painted over by the new owners.

"This part of the village always seems kind of depressing when I walk through it," Sakura commented. "I know it happened a long time ago but still this place gives off a strange vibe sometimes."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "Really, never really thought about it."

Sakura gave him a leveled look, "You really are too carefree at times you know that?"

Naruto just shrugged again as Sakura scowled at how sometimes he acted a little too much like his father sometimes. They soon found themselves in front of Sasuke's home there was a high wall that prevented anyone seeing into the place. Many times the girls of the school would come hoping to find a place to look over the wall. There was a large wooden door which was most likely locked.

They looked around and didn't see anyone just yet so now was as good a time as any. Unlike in the school they knew how to put chakra into their feet and climb the wall with their feet. They quickly ran up and over the wall before jumping down onto the ground on the other side. They walked up to the front door and were about to knock when they heard something coming from outside the house. They decided since Sasuke was the only one that lived here it was most likely him.

They found him slashing at a dummy with his sword and by the looks of it he had been at it for a bit.

"Hey you're dropping your guard too low!" Naruto yelled out, although Sasuke wasn't it was always fun to make him think that he was doing something wrong.

Sasuke jerked to a stop before glaring at Naruto, "what are you two doing here?"

"Well you've been a bit odd lately but I felt that was normal for you." Naruto joked. That earned him an elbow in the side from Sakura and a glare with it.

"You've seemed distant since you learned about your brother being here," Sakura told him honestly. "I'm...we're worried about you."

"I'm fine now you can leave," he turned back to the dummy.

Naruto narrowed his eyes okay sure Sasuke could be a bit cold and distant at times but he was never like that. Looks like there was something to Sakura's worry after all, he had known Sasuke for years and there just seemed to be this darkness hanging over his head and this grim look on in his eyes.

"Yeah then how come you've locked yourself up in here, you didn't even show up with everyone at Hinata-chan's place with everyone else." Naruto told him.

"I've already seen that technique so why would I want to see it again."

"Oh yeah...kind of a good point," Naruto muttered to himself. "Yeah well...uh...oh yeah, you could have still gone just to hang out with everyone. I mean you could have shown off that new move of your own, I bet even Neji would be jealous of that one." He put a little emphasis on Neji`s name if there was one thing he could count on it was the rivalry between Uchiha and Hyuga. It had to be the fact that the village only had two clans with special eye powers.

Sasuke paused as he considered that it would have been nice to show up the Hyuga prodigy but he had more serious things to worry about.

Naruto got the feeling they were being ignored now and it was kind of starting to piss him off. He didn`t have to be the center of attention, well not all the time, but being ignored was something he never liked. So he decided to switch it up a bit and try and piss him off.

"Yeah well I don't know why you're going to practice so much, given what happened with my dad I got plans to kick the crap out of Itachi." As soon as that name slipped out Sasuke hit the dummy with suck force the sword imbedded into it. Sasuke had to pull hard to get it out as he then turned on Naruto with blazing eyes.

"He's mine you will not touch him!"

Sakura had never seen such hatred in Sasuke's eyes and she was worried that maybe she should have done the talking. She was about to say something but Naruto suddenly started walking forward. He got to a few feet away from Sasuke as he looked him right the eye.

"Make me." Naruto simply said with hard eyes.

"What?" Sasuke said darkly.

"You heard me, make me. I bet I could beat you and if I do I bet that means I'm closer to beating that guy's ass than you are."

Sasuke looked at him for a long silent moment as the tension between them started to rise up. He gripped his handle harder as the leather creaked slightly from the grasp. "Fine then."

And just like that he came at Naruto the blonde masked ninja nearly didn't have enough time to pull the short sword from his back to block the attack. He pushed back as he countered although his sword wasn't as long as Sasuke's it allowed to make smaller quicker swipes at him. Sasuke had the range but the closer Naruto got to him, the harder it was to position his sword just right.

Sakura watched in horror as the two went at it, she had seen them spar before but this wasn't anything like sparing. They were moving way too quickly and the blows were full on without them holding back. She knew enough that if they screwed up with that kind of recklessness they could get seriously injured if not worse. Although she was training to be a medic she didn't want to try to put to use the little knowledge she had.

They boys just seemed to focused on their fight that they didn't even seem to notice her. She couldn't let this go on and if she had to knock some sense into them she would. She watched them carefully looking for the perfect moment. Thankfully she got an opening before something serious happened.

"Alright that's enough!" Sakura quickly got between them as she used her tonfa to hook behind both their knees and pulled up sending them both onto their backs. "Enough of this male bonding crap with the fighting. Why do boys always end up doing this?" She yelled at both of them, she didn't want to see them fighting like this.

"Why can't you see that we just want to help you?" Sakura pleaded with Sasuke.

"I don't need help," He grumbled sitting back up he had been so focused on Naruto that he had forgotten she had been here for a moment. It would figure that she would pick that moment to strike with those weapons of hers.

"That's crap," Naruto sat up as well, "You say that but what happens if you faced him now?"

"I know I'd lose but that's why I need to get stronger," Sasuke told them both. "I have to avenger what he did don't you two understand that? He killed everyone in my family and my clan, it's my responsibility to bring him to justice. If there was someone else alive from the clan they would be doing the same thing."

"Well what about me?" Naruto asked him. "I nearly lost my dad, he's the only family I got so are you saying that I don't have a beef with your jerk of an older brother?"

Sasuke looked at him angrily. "He's fine now my family will never be fine again."

Naruto wasn't sure if Sasuke was saying that his dad's life meant less than the Uchiha but this wasn't getting anywhere. He just wanted to show that he didn't have to be alone in all of this, that what affected one of them affected them all. It was that thought that made him suddenly get inspiration for something to tell him.

"Yeah well you're forgetting one thing."

Sasuke looked at him silently waiting to hear whatever he was going to say.

"Yeah the Uchiha were your clan but they were Leaf ninja," Naruto told him seriously. "I mean they were a part of this village too, the entire village felt the pain of that day not just you! I remember my dad being all depressed on that day, I never really understood until I was older and knew about how he got his eye."

Sasuke paused remembering that story as well, Kakashi always talked proudly of Obito Uchiha and he had learned a lot about who might have been the most unassuming member of his clan and yet Kakashi always said that Obito in the end had been one of the greatest ninja the man had ever known.

"I remember that day too," Sakura spoke up thinking back. "My mom had been good friends with an Uchiha woman, I forget her name but I remember her always going to my family's shop and my mom and her would talk all the time. I remember her crying a few nights after it."

"See, you're not the only one that got hurt from that," Naruto told his friend. "They were Leaf ninja and part of this village and when they were gone everyone felt the loss. You're not the only one hurt by that so why should you take all the burden? You think someone else's pain is worth more than yours? You think you're the only one hurting from that day?"

"Plus we're your teammates and friends," Sakura put in as she took a step forward. "Kakashi-sensei keeps telling us about teamwork and how we're stronger together than alone. You don't have to carry this burden alone Sasuke-kun. If you really are going after your brother than let us help you."

"Yeah you can fight for the Uchiha but let us fight for the village," Naruto told him crossing his arms. "Besides I bet your jerk of a brother wouldn't expect that would he? I mean why the hell should we do what he wants?"

That right there got Sasuke thinking, he was playing into his brother's hand. Plus they were starting to make a point, the Uchiha were part of the village.

"Come on let's go kick his ass together," Naruto said to him. "I just want one good hit in for my dad, I promise that you can finish the job."

Sasuke didn't say anything as he was just feeling a lot of confusion, for years he had taken on the burden to bring justice to his older brother for his crimes. He felt that as the only survivor it was up to him to do this. He never once considered help in taking his brother down, because he wasn't sure if anyone was strong enough to go up against his brother. Plus there was another fact, not once in all the years had anyone_ offered_ to help. He felt that he was alone in this for so long it just felt like he had to do it alone.

He looked at the masked boy in front of him and the pink haired girl next to him, Naruto had always been the one that pushed him to do better in the academy and Sakura was getting stronger all the time. She even was starting some extra training under the Hokage now. Who knew the kinds of things she could learn under her that he couldn't. He didn't know much about medical jutsu or other skills and he wasn't sure they were skills he could just copy with his sharingan and hope to use.

Despite what most believe the copy abilities had its limits, if he didn't have any kind of affinity with the jutsu it was harder to use sometimes even impossible if he had no talent at all for a certain element. Physical abilities were also limited to what his body could pull off. Then there was Naruto, the guy had a nearly unnatural knack for surprises. Plus there was no telling what he would learn in a few years, so there he was sitting in his yard with a choice.

He could try and do everything on his own and do exactly what his brother wanted or he could do something surprising.

He grunted out and actually gave a small smile. "You two are idiots sometimes you know that, you want to help me take out a guy that killed an entire clan?"

"Hell yeah," Naruto shouted bumping a fist into the air. "Hell if we do that we'll not only even the score for everyone but we'll be total badasses. I'm going to be the greatest Hokage in history and taking down an S-class missing ninja from our village will help in that, you can bet on it!"

Sakura smiled but rolled her eyes, "Who do you think will have to patch you two up afterwards anyway? Seriously I bet you two will go overboard and won't be able to walk after it and I'll have to know how to reset everything so you can bet you'll need me to carry you both back to the village when we're done."

Sasuke shook his head and sighed, "Fine if only because I know you two will just follow me and I'll have to look out for you two."

"Like hell," Naruto crossed his arms, "I bet you'll get into more trouble and I'll have to save your ass."

Sasuke grunted with a smirk, "We'll see on that."

The three of them smiled as they made their pack to take down Itachi together. All three of them felt a bit better after this. Sakura smiled to herself seeing Naruto and Sasuke try and argue over who would be the one to do what in this future fight. It was kind of funny as she couldn't see any real hostility in them, it was just their way of being around the other. Honestly, boys couldn't seem to be honest with their feelings and hide it all behind some kind of macho exterior.

"Hey Naruto weren't you going to do something today?" She asked him in case the two decided to challenge the other to a new sparing match. It seemed to be getting that way and she remembered he had something a bit more important than just trying to beat Sasuke at something.

Naruto thought about it before jumping up, "Crap! I nearly forgot I got a date with Hinata-chan! I got to get home and change, Sasuke, we'll settle this later."

Both of them watched as Naruto bolted for the nearest wall and went over it. He certainly could move fast when he was motivated. Sakura looked down at Sasuke as she smiled and offered her hand to help him up. He paused for only a second before taking it as she pulled him off the ground.

"So are you still going to train for the day?" She asked him.

He shrugged, "Not much else to do at the moment."

"Okay then I'm game," She pulled out her tonfas as she put them into a guard position, the long metal parallel with her forearms as she got into a stance Anko trained her to be in.

Sasuke was about to say something but the burning look in her green eyes told him that she was up for it. Before he wouldn't have thought much of her skills but she had proven herself lately. She had grown into a better ninja something he could appreciate. He smirked as he got his sword and went into a high guard stance, the blade being held high at head level.

"I won't go easy on you." He told her.

"That's odd, I was going to say the same thing," she replied to him trying to mirror the smirk he had on. One thing that Anko taught her was that it was always make it seem like you were equal or better than the guy in front of you. It was the only way a woman could get respect with some males. She didn't have to wait long as Sasuke rushed forward.

**-Hyuga Clan Compound-**

Hinata was in her room getting ready for Naruto, she wasn't sure what he had in mind but it would be nice to just spend some time with him. It felt like forever that they had any time to themselves, with missions and the village recovering everyone was busy. But he had promised to set the day aside for just them. So Hinata made sure that her team wasn't going to be sent out on a mission or training that would get in the way. Apparently Kurenai had plans and wanted to give everyone a day off, she wasn't sure what her sensei had planned but she had seemed slightly happy for some reason.

So she had finished with getting her room cleaned up, her pet rabbit's cage had been cleaned and the rabbit was currently napping. It was nice that Hanabi could help take care of him while she was away on missions and such. Plus she knew that her little sister enjoyed playing with the pet rabbit too.

Although currently she was sitting at a simple vanity mirror looking at herself in the mirror, she was wondering if she should try and change into something else. All she had on was her usual pants and coat, she did have other clothing but she had no idea if Naruto wanted her to look better. It was times like this she wished she had her mother she would know what to do. There were just some things that a girl couldn't ask her father and this was in no means something she wanted to talk to him about.

She knew that her father didn't hate Naruto or anything but it was just something very embarrassing to the both of them. She signed, maybe she should have tried talking to Kurenai about this, her sensei was sometimes like a older sister and she felt that she could go to her with things like this.

Hinata sat on her bed looking down maybe she should change her coat or go without it? She could go and look for Ino or Sakura she was close to those girls and could ask for advice but she had no idea where they might be at this point and she couldn't spend the time looking for them.

Realizing that she had no more time she decided to just go as she was. Making sure that the rabbit cage was secured she left her room and closed the door behind her. She felt nervous even though she and Naruto were official sometimes she found if hard to believe that they were actually dating. She wasn't sure what to really do as a couple, she had no real experience and was always afraid she might do something wrong. Hinata knew that she should have more confident in herself but that had always been a problem for herself.

There was just so much expected of her as the oldest child of the head of the clan, a clan that had a very long legacy to uphold. It was a lot of pressure to be under when she first realized the weight that would be carried on her shoulders. Sometimes it felt that the entire clan expected great things from her simply because of the family she was born into.

"Hinata?"

She was brought out of her thinking as she noticed Neji was walking towards her.

"Ah, Neji-niisan."

"Are you okay?" He asked her. He was on his way to his own room and noticed her in the hall as she looked to be deep in thought about something.

"Oh yes sorry my mind was wondering."

Neji wasn't sure what she was thinking about but if she didn't want to say anything that was okay with him as it could be something personal after all. Although he was wondering if she was up for some more lessons today. She had been improving and Gai was off on a mission until tomorrow, Tenten said she was working on cleaning and maintenance her weapons. Given the number of weapons he had seen and who knew how many more that could be a full day's work. As for Lee, well he wasn't in the mood for some kind of insane training that a normal person might end up in the hospital if they tried.

"Well I'm free for the day if you want to continue some lessons I will gladly help out." He offered.

"O-oh well thank you but I promised I would go on a date with Naruto-kun today, in fact I have to go now."

"Very well I won't keep you," he bowed his head slightly watching his younger cousin go. Although he didn't mind she had plans the fact that he was going on a date with Naruto might have been something to worry about. At least he was hoping he would have nothing to worry about as he started to really think hard about Naruto. It wasn't all the long ago that he used to flirt with Tenten, of course Neji felt he only did that to annoy him but at least he stopped doing that when he started dating Hinata.

Although now it seemed that the Uchiha seemed to take an interest wasn't pleasant either but Neji put those thoughts aside for another time. Neji also knew that Naruto read those books of his father as well, Neji knew what kind of books those were and he had a fairly good idea on the contents inside of them. There was one other thing and the rumors about the reasons why Hiashi had chased Naruto out of Hinata's room one night. The fact that the boy had even been alone in her room at night wasn't a pleasant idea.

'_Maybe it would be best to keep an eye on him after all,'_ He thought to himself. He could keep a respectful distance just in case and give them a sort of privacy. After all Hinata was more like a little sister to him than a cousin. He had always looked after her growing up and he felt it was a duty to make sure that Naruto didn't try anything out of line.

**Next up Chapter 15: Alone at Last**

**There is a poll on my bio page to see if anyone would want me to write a Tiger and Bunny based story. I have an idea that I like and hope to run with.**


	15. Alone at Last

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 15: Alone at Last**

Hinata walked through the village going to Naruto's place to meet up with him. She felt both nervous and yet she couldn't wait for this. They hadn't had much time together after they were made ninja so when they finally had become a couple they had to find the moments when they could. Walking down the streets she saw everyone doing something the village always felt full of life one of the reasons she loved living in the village.

She was passing by a side street when suddenly she felt a pair of hands grab her and pull her in. She was about to let out a scream as she felt a hand on her mouth and suddenly there was something behind her pressing against her. She panicked for a moment, although most didn't know it, she hated being suddenly grabbed by strangers. That night when she had been a child and kidnapped let her with a fear about that happening again. It wasn't as bad as it had been when she was a child but she still didn't like it.

"Surprise Hinata-chan," Naruto's voice whispered into her ear.

"N-Naruto-kun!?"

He pulled away chuckling at surprising her, he had been traveling the rooftops to try and get ahead of her as he had been worried he was running late plus he had another reason for taking the rooftops. He wanted to check to see if any other Hyuga were around or seemed to always be keeping a certain distance from her. When he had finally spotted her he just couldn't help surprising her, so he got ahead and cut into an alley that he knew she would have to pass.

She pouted at him not pleased by the scare.

Naruto noticed the look on her face and scratched the back of his head. "Ah, sorry I was just joking plus I wanted to be sure about something."

Now she looked confused about the meaning of that. "What do you mean?"

"Just let me check," he edged to the end of the ally and pulled out a small mirror from his vest. He used it to look around the corner for the person he had seen shadowing Hinata. She hadn't thought to look for a tail and it looks like it was Neji. At first Naruto thought Neji was just out but given that he was keeping a certain distance from her he recognized standard shadowing tactics. He had used the same skills from his dad for years.

"Yep I thought as much," Naruto muttered as he also noticed that a Hyuga couple had been also not far away. The same couple that looked to be shopping but not actually buying anything or going into any stores plus the guy looked like one of the gate guards. Given all the times he passed through the main gates he could place the faces of most of them. So he figured Hinata's father might have had one of the guards (the woman might be the man's wife or another guard he wasn't sure) just to make sure nothing happened to Hinata or it was just something the branch family did normally as a duty.

So was Neji part of it or was he doing this on his own? Again Naruto couldn't tell but none of that mattered he planned for this.

"W-what is it?"

"Oh I just have to get rid of some unwanted eyes," He chuckled as he made several shadow clones. Then he had half of them turn into a copy of Hinata. "Alright you guys know the plan."

"You got it," All of them nodded as they left the alley in both ends at different times and going in different directions. The Hyuga might be able to see in all directions but if they were focused on a certain pair even they could miss something. So with all the decoys deployed it would be fairly easy to get some alone time with her.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata questioned why he was doing all of this.

"Looks like you had a few people following you."

"What?" She was surprised by that and a little shocked.

"Don't worry I think they were just keeping an eye on you," then muttered maybe it was to keep an eye on him in case he did anything he shouldn't. Honestly that whole incident with her in her room that her father walked in on had been a misunderstanding. He had been alone with Hinata plenty of times of course that had been before they were dating. Well at least as long as he stayed ahead of everyone he could get some time alone with her.

"Come on I got everything ready," Naruto took her hand as he led her through the streets. He made sure that the clones knew what route to take that would lead anyone away from their destination. He led her through the village taking a few side streets and turns just in case, he never considered himself paranoid but then you could never be too careful with a group of people that could see through solid objects. Besides it was kind of fun this way, reminded him of when he was younger and tried to sneak into the Hyuga compound as many times as he could just to test them out.

Apparently he had found a few holes in the security of course if he knew now when he knew then he would have kept a few of those secret. Sneaking in was nearly impossible now so if he wanted a late night visit with her he better have a good reason for the gate guards to let him in.

At any rate now they had some alone time and he was going to enjoy it. There was no telling when the next mission would come from or how long either of them would be on it. So he was going to enjoy the time they had together when they had it. Plus he wanted to make this a really cool date for her so leading her to the training areas he hoped everything was ready. He had placed a few shadow clones on guard just in case as he didn't want to leave it all that stuff alone.

There were animals about as well in the area and he didn't want them picking at the food.

Hinata had no idea where he was leading them but it was kind of exciting the mystery of it all and what he had planned. They moved through the wooded area of the training fields the smells of the forest were everywhere. She always loved that about the village the smells of the forest especially after a raining morning she liked to go into the woods. Soon they came to a stop as Naruto looked at her as she noticed that look in his eyes when he was getting an idea.

"You know I really want this to be a good surprise, you trust me?"

She nodded her head as she watched him move behind her. He slowly and gently took the forehead protector from around her neck and placed it over her eyes. She swallowed getting a little nervous as she felt his hands on the naked bare neck. When his fingers touched it she felt a shiver run through her that she hadn't even known that part of her was sensitive.

When she was perfectly blind she was wondering when he was going to take her hand to lead her but she squealed when he suddenly picked her up in his arms. He told her to hold on and she did tightly as he started moving quickly through the forest. She didn't know what was going on or what he had planned but her heart was racing. He was jumping around most likely he was using the tree branches to quickly move through the forest. Then they landed and he was on flat ground, she could have used her eyes to see where they were but she restrained herself.

He was trying to make this a surprise and she didn't want to spoil things plus a part of her did enjoy the feeling of being carried in his arms. She blushed feeling her whole body feeling warm all of a sudden as she was starting to feel a little light headed but quickly fought it down. She had been trying so hard to not faint so much when she was with him like this.

Eventually he set her down as he took off the modified blindfold. "Here we are!"

She found herself in a small clearing here there was a blanket all set up and a basket. He had brought her out for a picnic but it wasn't just any field. There close by was a large patch of sunflowers that were growing.

"I saw this place and kind of thought about you," Naruto admitted scratching the back of his head. He had gotten rid of the clones before he showed her where they were. Plus he was glad the clones hadn't seemed to try and sneak a snack from the basket. "I wanted to find a really cool place where we could just relax together sort of a special place all for us."

"I like it," she told him as she sat down on the blanket.

Naruto grinned happy to hear that she liked the area if this worked out when this could be their own little spot where they could meet up in secret. He had found this while exploring the village and it hadn't looked like many if any came this way. So it had been the perfect to him and Naruto had spent a few days planning it all out and so far so good. He sat down next to her as he opened the basket and took out the food.

"That looks really good," Hinata said eyeing the food she noticed a few foods she really liked as most likely Naruto picked them just for her. That kind of thoughtfulness made her happy that he knew her so well and also cared enough to do it for her. In fact this whole thing had been just for her and she appreciated it a lot.

"Hope it tastes as good then," He grinned at her and he hoped it did. Now he knew how to make simple things especially instant food like the ramen cups he liked to eat. Unfortunately more complicated dishes were a bit of a challenge to him. So he had to buy the food from a few restaurants and the clones repackaged them to look like they were cooked.

Yeah it was 'cheating' but honestly he wanted this to turn out really nice and giving her food poison or indigestion wasn't exactly the best way to go about it. Not after all the planning for this and all the hard work. This was their first major date and he was going to make this a good memory for both of them.

Hinata tried a rice ball and liked the small taste of honey found in it in fact it tasted kind of like that kind that the one shop near the center of the village sold. She smiled wondering if he hadn't made the food she knew that he wasn't that good of a cook so might have bought it. She didn't mind after all, he seemed to put a lot of effort into all of this. So she wouldn't ask him or call him out on it because in the end the food didn't really matter.

The fact that they were alone and together was the really important thing about all of this and she was enjoying herself so far. The place was beautiful and she liked the sunflowers, she giggled as they kind of reminded her of Naruto's hair. How it was yellow and stuck out everywhere in little spikes his head kind of did look like a sunflower.

"Huh, something funny?" He asked her.

She shook her head she didn't want to tell him in case she laughed. The clueless face he made just looked so cute to her in that moment. She watched him shrug and pull down his mask as they started to eat together. She also liked these moments when he pulled down the mask around just for her. She knew that he did it because he idolized his dad Kakashi but sometimes she wanted to see his full face like when they first met. Then again only she got to see his full face so she felt very special that he trusted only her to show it whenever they were alone.

To her she knew that it spoke volumes of how much he trusted her and how close they were when he didn't show anyone outside of his family. Even his teammates didn't get to see his face all the time.

They spent the lunch talking about anything that came to mind, usually catching up and what everyone else was doing. They laughed and made jokes well Naruto made most of them if only because he liked the little laughing she did. It wasn't a full on laugh it was more of a quiet giggling like even her laugh was too shy to come out. Naruto always wondered if he could make her laugh out loud one day and what it would sound like.

Eventually they ate all the food and were just finishing up with the last of the drinks. Naruto looked at her and found that once again she was very cute. How had he not noticed it before, maybe just being his best friend growing up had blinded him to certain things. But looking at her now he couldn't help but notice her looks these days. As they sat together as she took her last drink left in her cup enjoying the moment when he suddenly leaned closer to her. She felt herself blush a bit but smiled at him as he was inches from her face now.

"I ever tell you that you're really cute when you blush?"

She shook her head not trusting her voice at the moment as he grinned at her.

"Well you are, makes me want to do this," he leaned in the last bit as his lips touched her. Her pale eyes widened as she felt their lips touch.

Her heart was hammering in her chest as she was frozen at the moment. So many thoughts rushed through her.

_Should she kiss him back, if so how much should she, should she do something or just let him take control, his lips were nice, I really should do something now but what. I can't move what do I do what should I do? It will get awkward if I don't do anything I have to..k-kiss back. _

_I wonder what's for supper..._For that last thought she had no idea why it entered her mind, even after the date and she had been laying on her bed staring up at the ceiling thinking about the day that totally random thought was still strange.

So she took action forcing herself to kiss him back as she moaned slightly as she fell into kiss her mind starting to go blank as her instincts started to take over for her.

Naruto took the initiative as he felt her kissing him back her lips were so soft as he leaned into it. Making small lingering kisses against her lips as they experimented to see how the other reacted. Soon they were getting into the moment although Naruto's arm and back was starting to ache from the unnatural angle he was in but he didn't care. This made it all worth it as he could taste her lips and the light flowery smell from her hair reached his nose too.

Hinata felt herself getting faint again as her heart was beating so fast it might burst. She couldn't keep herself propped up anymore and slowly started to fall onto her back. Naruto went with her as she was on top of her kissing her again. She hadn't known it at first but her arms snaked around his body as she pulled him in for more. She wasn't thinking anymore she couldn't think as her mind was lost in a haze of happiness as the two young lovers made out with each other.

Naruto thought about something he once read in his dad's books and wanted to try it. He pulled away from her lips and lightly sucked on her ear lobe.

Hinata squeaked in surprise at the sudden change and bit he lip feeling a jolt run through her spine unlike anything she had ever felt before. She thought that the kisses on her lips were something but this was something totally different, alien and yet very pleasurable for her. She had no idea that her ears were sensitive like this and with all the things he was doing was opening a whole new world for her. She might never look at ears the same way again after this.

She tried to fight it a but a small cute moan escaped her throat, Naruto liked the sound she made and wondered if the next part of the book was right. He moved aside the forehead protector she wore around her neck and kissed the side of the exposed skin. He sucked on the pale and smooth skin lightly before kissing it trying to emulate what he had read.

Hinata's eyes widened even more as she tensed up and actually groaned the sound was surprising even to her and she had no idea that she could make such noises. She whimpered as she was torn part of her wanted to stop but another wanted to explore these new experiences but knowing the kinds of things that might happen if they didn't stop, well she wasn't ready for it.

"W-w-wait," She told him panting for breath now as she felt him stop and pushed himself up so he was looking down at her.

"I-I don't t-think I can take much more," she told him.

Well Naruto knew that they were in no way ready for other things he had read about but a small part of him did feel a little disappointed. He was starting to have a lot of fun her skin was very smooth to him and he wanted to feel more of it, plus the cute little noises she made was something he wanted to hear more of as well. But he didn't want to push her too far too fast they did have the rest of their lives together after all.

He smiled as he lay down next to her, "No worries all you got to do it just tell me to stop and I'll stop, you know that I'll never do anything to hurt you."

She turned her head to look at him and smiled, "I know I'm just not ready for...certain things...Um...where did you learn that from?" She blushed remembering all the things he had just done.

"Oh I just read about it in my dad's books is all."

"Oh," she knew about those books but she never once even thought about reading them. They were for adults and she would never do something as improper as that. Although for the first time she was actually wondering what was in those books.

"Well anyways let's just enjoy ourselves we got plenty of time before you have to get back right?"

She nodded her head as she wanted to try to be a bit more expressive with her own emotions at the moment. Naruto was willing to show her affection so maybe she should too, with a small inhale of breath she readied her nerves and rolled over slightly. She was now resting against him her head on his shoulder as she was blushing all over now. Shutting her eyes as she didn't think she could open them, Naruto was surprised by smiled anyway. He shifted a little as he put his arm around her feeling her slightly tensed body slowly relaxed.

Hinata felt his body against hers and relaxed into it, it felt warm and safe like this. She didn't know it when slowly drifted off to sleep as Naruto watched over her enjoying the peaceful moment they had together.

**-Konoha Village-**

Neji had been following Hinata and Naruto for awhile now and honestly he had no idea what they were doing. They just seemed to be looking around and not going in any particular direction. That seemed odd to him as he figured that Naruto was going to do something special for a date with Hinata or at least something more than just walking around the village together. Plus something seemed off, he just couldn't place his finger on it.

Neji was standing by a vendor focused on the couple that he hadn't noticed someone walking up behind him.

Tenten was out buying some special oils to use on her weapons that prevent rust build up. She had a small bag of the metal tin cans as well as a few rags to wipe on and off the oils, and finally she had just gotten a new wet stone she needed for sharpening. Given all the pointed weapons she had she actually ran through wet stones faster than you'd think. That was when she noticed Neji there and walked over wondering what he was doing.

"Neji?" She was surprised when he nearly jumped normally it was hard to sneak up on him as he usually kept himself very alert.

"Tenten? I thought you were busy today?"

She held up the bag, "Yeah I needed a few things so what are you up to?"

Neji shifted as he looked to see Naruto and Hinata still in sight but they were slowly moving away. He didn't want to blow off his teammate but he couldn't afford to lose track of them either. Tenten gave him a curious look and then noticed his eyes flashing in a certain direction. She looked to see what had his attention when she noticed them.

She looked back at him giving him a leveled look, "Please tell me you're not spying on Hinata and Naruto."

"I'm not spying on them," He crossed his arms looking slightly offended that he was doing such a thing. "I'm just...looking after them is all."

"You're spying on them," she said deadpanned. She wasn't sure if she was more disappointed that he didn't trust them or was curious as to what they were doing. She saw him fidget as the two were slowly getting too far away. She had to admit that she was getting more curious as to what she had missed and what he might have seen.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, "Well come on we're going to lose them if we keep standing here." She told him walking in their direction. Neji didn't lose step with her although he did have a curious look on his face. She could see him wanting to question why she was going along with it and decided to tell him before he asked.

"I'm just curious," She told him. "So what have I missed?"

Some might think of her as not very 'girly' simply because she took her ninja life seriously, trained a lot and didn't spend her time off chasing down boys or wearing dresses and makeup, but that didn't mean she wasn't a girl. She actually liked romance and she liked being complimented and being chased by good looking boys just like any other girl her age. And where there was something very interesting like a couple she knew on a date she had to know how it went, even if she could only so far live vicariously through her friends.

"Nothing of note," Neji shrugged. "They've been looking around stores mainly."

Tenten looked at him and then quickly back to the couple. "Honestly? I thought on a date you'd, well you know, things like going out to dinner or walking in the park or something but window shopping, really?"

Neji just shrugged he didn't know what others did on dates but Tenten seemed to have a better idea. Had she been on a date before now? He knew that Naruto used to flirt with her when he was around but had stopped plus if he had gone out with Tenten he would know. Then he remembered how the Uchiha had been around her lately. The thought of him and Tenten didn't sit well with him as he started to wonder.

"Have...you been on a date before?" He asked trying hard not to blush but failing while keeping his eyes forward.

Tenten paused as she blushed as felt like maybe she had said too much. She fidgeted as she was thinking on answering him with the truth or not but she didn't want to lie about something like that. Yes it was embarrassing but she trusted him enough with it.

"Well no," She wished though, why couldn't a nice guy come up and ask her out? Sure she wasn't super girly but she had her charms she felt.

He gave her a look, "Oh, you sounded like you had experience."

"Well it's the basics," she crossed her arms being mindful of her bags looking away from him. "Just because no one's asked me yet doesn't mean I wouldn't like to go out with a nice guy."

That gave him thought that she did want to date this was the first he ever heard about it from her. Then again given their other two teammates where was the time for such talk? Looking at her he couldn't help but feel that she did have her charms. She was a lot more focused and mature than other girls their own age something he liked about her. Plus she had a grace about her, she could fight dirty and yet he had seen her fight with weapons like a dancer.

Tenten caught him starting and felt her face heat up. "W-what? What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, sorry," He went back to looking at the couple feeling his face heating up. For the next few moments there was a bit of a tense silence between them. Both of them unsure what to say or do next so they focused on the task at hand.

That was when Tenten started to notice a few odd things mainly that the two members were just hanging out more like friends than a couple. She kept noticing little things in fact something really did seem off about the whole thing.

"Hasn't Hinata usually been a lot more nervous around people?" Tenten suddenly asked him. "I mean she looks calmer then I can ever remember seeing her."

That was it, Neji realized suddenly. Their actions were totally off, Naruto would be trying to get closer to her and she would be blushing as she accepted. They would at least be holding hands but they were side by side as if they were just two buddies out for the day hanging out. Not only that but as he really looked closer he suddenly realized that Hinata was all wrong. It looked like her but she didn't move like Hinata. She moved with a more lumbering way, as a Hyuga trained in their specific fighting style it gave you a sense of poise and grace.

Not only that but as the eldest daughter of the main house she would have been trained for years on how to walk, how to keep her back straight and yet none of that was seen. She didn't move or act like Hinata and he knew the girl very well. She and Hanabi were more like little sisters to him than cousins so it was no wonder that something had been nagging at him.

Quickly he walked forward as Tenten startled matched his pace quickly asking him what was going on but he wasn't answering. Soon he came upon the two of them and the two looked at Neji.

"Oh hey there Neji," Naruto spoke up and then noticed Tenten. "Heeey, are you guys on a date?"

Both young teens blushed but Neji ignored it as he stepped up to Hinata and looked at her very closely.

"Uh...is something the matter?" Hinata asked.

Neji frowned looking at her now she sounded like Hinata but didn't talk like her. She was nervous but it wasn't the shy nervous that she usually had this was something totally different. That was then he realized what must have been going on. Suddenly he punched the fake in the chest as she burst into smoke.

"What the hell!?" Tenten shouted out surprised by his actions.

"Oh crap," Naruto muttered.

Neji turned to Naruto glaring, "Shadow clones with one in a henge. Where are they really?"

"Heh, figured me out huh?" Naruto grinned. "Well you're too late the boss and Hinata-chan are way gone by now, so good luck finding them!"With that the clone released himself as he too turned into a puff of smoke.

Leaving a very frustrated Neji behind he had been fooled and he can bet that Naruto wouldn't have just make one fake couple. There was no telling where the real ones could be in the village by now. All this time Naruto had been leading him around like a fool. He swore the next time he found Naruto he was going to have some words with him, maybe by using his fists for all the punctuations.

"Well at least we know why they were acting so odd," Tenten spoke up surprised by it all. He didn't say anything and she could tell he was very annoyed either by being duped by Naruto or by not knowing where they were or what they were doing. Honestly he could be a little overprotective at times.

Although she might have to calm him down or else he looked like he might go and hunt down Naruto by this point. She knew she had to do something so even though she was slightly embarrassed she slipped an arm through his leading him away. The sudden contact snapped him out of his thoughts of retribution as Tenten pulled him away.

"T-Tenten?"

"I'm hungry and I was going to get some lunch but since I was watching those two with you I'm really starting to get hungry now." She wasn't lying she was starting to get hungry and it was the perfect excuse to get his mind off things. She didn't noticed how it looked to others at first, her arm around Neji's and her carrying a shopping bag it looked like they had been out on a date already.

Neji felt a little uncomfortable with such intimate contact it also didn't help that his arm kept brushing up against a certain part of her chest lightly which made it all too painful how much of a girl Tenten really was. Of course he knew she was a girl but the physical reminder wasn't helping him stay calm. He started sweating slightly as his thoughts were more on her and less on Naruto.

"So given that we can't find them we might as well eat," she told him feeling herself getting warm feeling him against her like this. She knew that she was just trying to distract him but she couldn't help but the feeling of him on her arm felt...nice. It wasn't like when they were on missions or training this felt different than any time they were physically touching in the past. This felt more intimate with him as they walked through the village.

"Well...I suppose I do feel a little hungry myself," Neji had no idea what to say so he just went with the first thing in his head.

"Good I know a good place where we can eat then," she saw a few people looking at them a few women pointed and giggled as she realized how it finally looked to everyone. Suddenly she felt her race picking up a little as she realized that without even trying she had in a way gotten a 'date' with Neji. Sure it wasn't a real one but some part of her felt happy about it. She had been saying earlier that she would at least like to go on a date but she hadn't thought that it would happen so fast.

At any rate she had no idea how long or if ever something like this was going to happen again so she was going to enjoy it as much as she could.

**Next up Chapter 16: New Duties and Responsibilities**

**AN: Just so you know the name Hinata can mean sunflower**


	16. New Duties and Responcibilities

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 16: New Duties and Responsibilities**

Tsunade sighed as she sat in the chair of her new office, she hadn't been Hokage for long and already she wasn't sure if this was a good idea or if she should try and force Jiraiya to take the job for her. She had even contemplating even offering to sleep with him if he took the job. This was just so different from her carefree lifestyle that she had been used to. She hadn't had to do this kind of work in decades and at her age she was having a tough time keeping up with all of it.

How the Old Man had managed to come out of retirement to do this again she had no idea than again he was a tough old man but there would be no coming out of retirement this time. He was no longer physical fit to be a ninja and it was now up to her to oversee the entire village. First had been the ceremony for her being officially named Hokage, that hadn't been bad but it was all so stiff. Then there were the endless reports that she had to look over.

There was all the reconstruction efforts for the village that needed her attention, mission requests, balancing it all out so that the right members were sent on the missions, reports from different divisions and on completed missions all the paper work was enough to drive her back to drinking. Although Shizune was here made it all somewhat bearable for her and Shizune also made sure that she didn't drink while she was in the office.

Sighing to herself she pulled out the next group of papers from the pile on her desk. Scanning it she was it was a list of chunin candidates. That was something she could use as she had just finished a request for a joint mission by Suna. Members of the Sound Village had been seen in their country and boarders not to mention intelligence reports were that the village might be up to something. Given that Orochimaru lead that village for Tsunade it wouldn't surprise her if he was up to something.

The request asked for a team for a joint mission to look into a possible location of the Sound Village in one of the smaller nations. This could be useful as no one seemed to know where that village was, in fact most hidden villages of the smaller nations kept hidden from the world as they weren't large enough to defend themselves. So if they could find the Sound Village and crush it, it would wipe out a possible threat. Ever since the failed invasion Sound had made enemies of both Konoha and Suna and had reformed the bonds of both villages, of course there were still some hard feelings on both sides.

Many had died for both Suna and Konoha and all that blood couldn't be totally forgotten but maybe missions like this could help rebuild those old bonds. But first she needed to pick out a team for it, thinking about it as she leaned back in her chair and idea did form in her mind. Maybe she could take out two birds with one stone. She called for Shizune and told her who to summon to her office. Honestly she had been thinking of promoting those few on the list she was currently looking at anyway but this gave her the opportunity to also give them their first mission.

"Maybe this job isn't as hard as I thought," Tsunade said proudly to herself as he set the paperwork aside for later and started to dig through the larger pile. It was going to be a long day today and she was starting to wonder if they all would be this busy or would it let up until the village was back up to full strength?

That afternoon soon found Team 7 walking together to the Hokage's office. Kakashi had tracked them all down and was currently leading them up the outside stairs to the top levels of the building. He hadn't said why they were coming here only that they were to be summoned for some reason. Even he had been left out of the loop but he was used to that kind of thing, you were only told as much as you needed to know a lot of the times after all. He took it all in stride the others were a bit more curious especially his son.

"Come on dad don't you got any ideas of what she wants us for?" Naruto begged him. "Wasn't there any kind of hint about what she wanted us for?"

Kakashi sighed tried as he had while the boy had been growing up, teaching him patience had been something that Naruto had trouble learning. "No, I'm just as in the dark as you three are."

"Maybe it's a new mission?" Sakura thought it out. "After all we haven't gotten anything other than D grade missions helping out with the village."

"Possible," Kakashi nodded.

"Or will it be just more D grade missions in the village?" Sasuke asked secretly hoping it wasn't. Although he wouldn't admit to sharing Naruto's viewpoint he really wanted to do something more important lately.

"Again possible," Kakashi said again.

"Oh come on are you saying anything is possible about why she's calling us here for?" Naruto was starting to get a little annoyed by the lack of answers.

Kakashi shrugged, "They were all possible Naruto so I don't see why not."

Naruto frowned as he thought about it and then suddenly grinned. "Then maybe she's figured out she's not cut out for the job of Hokage and is giving it to me then?"

"Now that's completely impossible."

"What!? Oh come on how come that's the one thing that isn't possible?"

"Simple," Kakashi answered him casually, "You're nowhere near ready to be Hokage yet."

"I thought it was a parent's job to encourage their kid's dreams!"

"Yes but it's also a parent's job to make them realize they have to set their sights in a more realistic fashion. I never once said you couldn't be Hokage have I?"

Naruto paused to think about that when he had first told his dad about his gaol to be Hokage his father had seemed to take it in stride. He hadn't said anything against the idea so Naruto had ran with it. "No...but you never said I could do it either."

"I didn't want you to get a big head," Kakashi chuckled.

Naruto frowned again walking on in silence as Sakura tried to fight the urge to giggle at the antics of the two family members. Although now that she knew that they weren't blood related looking at them now you wouldn't think it. Naruto and Kakashi had always had a good relationship maybe it was because for the longest time they had only each other. Sakura smiled a little as it was good that they had such a relationship.

Kakashi looked up to see the top of the stairs but also something else caught his eye, there opening the door to the inside was Asuma with Shikamaru standing there looking bored as usual. Now Kakashi's mind was thinking all kinds of reasons for them to be here, since Ino and Choji weren't here this had to do with Shikamaru. Kakashi had a sneaking suspicion that he was getting an idea where this was headed.

"Yo," Kakashi casually greeted the two of them.

"Ah Kakashi, I take it that you're team was called here too." Asuma also was thinking that whatever the Hokage wanted with Shikamaru it might involve Kakashi's team. This certainly looked like the day was going to be interesting.

"Seems so, how's your dad doing?" Kakashi asked.

Asuma shrugged, "Alright, he's still got a ways to go in his physical therapy although what he plans to do for his retirement I have no idea. Last time I remember him being bored out of his mind, now that he'll need a cane to walk around with he'll be less active. Still it could have been much worse, already he's pushing me to find a girl and give him a few more grandkids before he dies."

Kakashi chuckled. "Well I heard that you might be in luck in that regard."

Asuma blushed a bit caught off guard as he suddenly thought about Kurenai. They had only been on a couple of dates in fact he hadn't told anyone that he had done that yet. Truth was he wanted to see where things would go before making it officially known. So far things were going well and honestly he really did like her and getting to know her better only seemed to make those feelings grow.

"How did...Anko it's the only way," Asuma sighed as he should have known that woman would tell Kakashi anything that was juicy.

"Welcome to the non-single life style," Kakashi eye smiled at the man.

"Hold up," Sakura interjected. "Since when was Asuma-sensei seeing someone?"

Now Asuma looked to see he had four pairs of genins looking at him with interests, even Shikamaru was looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. He contemplated going to a cigarette to give himself some time to think of a way out of this. He really didn't want his team finding out and Sakura was best friends with Ino not to mention one of them was standing right next to him. Then again maybe he could bribe his silence somehow at least until he felt comfortable with Kurenai before it got out around the village. He never was one to have his personal life out in public anyway.

"He was on a date with Kurenai," Kakashi spoke up ignoring the glare Asuma sent his way. "Now we better hurry up and not keep the Hokage waiting."

"Oh man Ino is going to freak when I tell her this," Sakura whispered to her friends who nodded.

"I owe you for this," Asuma told Kakashi letting the hidden meaning of the threat there between the lines. Kakashi just waved at him with a lazy hand as he walked past. "I swear it's like Anko is slightly influencing him lately."

**-Hokage's Office-**

So there they all stood, the genins out front in a line while the two sensei jonins stood behind them all. Tsunade was sitting behind her desk looking at all three of them while Shizune was there looking pleased for some reason the genins couldn't understand at the moment. The pig Tonton for some reason was sitting on the desk looking like she was part of the whole thing as well.

"Well I have to say that today the official results are in," Tsunade started to speak up. "Shikamaru, you showed great patience and strategy in the chunin exams at least that's the reports on you said. Looking them over and at the official endorsements of the previous Hokage and from your mission results I felt that you deserve this honor."

Shikamaru fought back a groan, he knew why they were here now and it was all so troubling for him. How on earth had this happened? He wasn't even trying to get promoted he was just doing what he normally did. He thought about refusing it but Ino would be like a harpy on the whole thing and his mother when she found out would be even worse. Maybe it was just easier to take the damn thing and be done with it.

Tsunade looked to the three other members of Team 7 and smiled at them slightly. "You three also showed promise in the exams both on and off the field. Naruto although your improvised way of saving the Hokage had worked you might want to learn some restraint. We're still rebuilding part of the stadium."

"Well it was for a good cause," Naruto muttered only to get an elbow by Sakura telling him to keep quiet.

"Also you three I saw in action personally," Tsunade had to admit that they had some skills, oh they still had a long way to go and it would be years before they were really impressive but she could see the talent in this team. With the right push and teaching they could in fact go far, maybe even becoming the next sannin team of this generation.

"So you four should be proud to know that you have all been promoted to chunin," Tsunade nodded as Shizune went to a trunk that had been put into the room earlier. She opened it up as she took out the green vests that Konoha was known for only to be worn by ninja that were chunin or above. She handed out each vest to all four of them. Asuma and Kakashi looked on proudly at their new chunins, Kakashi enjoyed seeing the reactions on the faces of them all.

Sasuke was calm about it but he could tell from a glint in his eyes that he eagerly accepted it, to him it proved that he had grown as a ninja. He was a step closer to accomplishing his goals as he put on the jacket. It felt a bit heavier than he expected as the new leather smell was all over it but it felt good to him.

Sakura couldn't believe it even when she had the jacket in her hands she hadn't really thought about becoming a chunin all that much. Sure she had thought about it during the exam but it had slipped her mind after it since all kinds of things had happened since then. It almost seems more like a lifetime ago then only a few months since the exam. She gingerly put on the vest testing it out, she was going to have to get used to it but already her mind was thinking of all the things she could put in the pockets.

She couldn't wait to show her parents, Ino and even Anko, she couldn't have gotten this far without the woman's help during that training month.

Naruto of course well everyone expected his reactions.

"Awesome!" He shouted out at the top of his lungs holding the vest up like it was a prize of some kind. He was so energetic about it all he nearly was bouncing off the walls. Naruto's large blue eyes seemed to shine as he held the combat jacket in his hands. To him it was the first major step in accomplishing his dream of being Hokage. He grinned as he looked right at Tsunade.

"Don't get too comfortable in that chair I'm going to be sitting there soon enough!" He boasted proudly.

Tsunade let out a small grunt, "Don't get too cocky brat you're a hundred years too young to be sitting in this chair." She wanted to add in 'yet' at the end but didn't want to give the kid an ego. Looking at all the energy he was giving off she couldn't help but smile a bit. He had this way about him that was full of hope and determination, she hoped that life wouldn't crush that out of him as it had for her for so long.

But then again he had been the one to bring that back into her life so maybe she would place her hope into the boy.

Kakashi smiled happily as he suddenly remembered something looking to Asuma, "So about the pool..."

Asuma's good mood shifted as he remembered that, Kakashi had just cleaned house with his bet that all his gennin would be promoted. He had managed to win a little by betting at least one of his students would win but the broadness of that wasn't much of a payoff.

"Damn I forgot about that one." Asuma sighed.

Kakashi grinned happily knowing the payday he was in store for. Yeah it had been very long odd, given that it was rare for an entire team to make it to the finals let alone all be promoted but he stood by his team. Of course he had been a bit worried he was biting off more than he could chew, in the end he had beaten the odds.

"You bet on us?" Sasuke asked their sensei.

Kakashi shrugged, "It's kind of a tradition, especially for those with students in the exams. I bet that all three of you would be promoted and I won."

"Damn I wish I had gotten in on that action," Tsunade muttered to herself.

"That wouldn't exactly be fair Tsunade-sama," Shizune whispered to her hearing it. "You do make the selections after all."

Tsunade sweat dropped as she coughed into her hand ignoring the comment.

"So does that mean your treating us then?" Naruto grinned up at his dad. "We did all the hard work after all."

"It's only fair," Sasuke told him as Sakura looked up at him to see his reaction.

"Yeah-yeah," He waved them off, "Don't worry I will you all deserve it anyway."

"Great, man I can't wait to show Hinata-chan," Naruto looked at his vest again he knew she would be proud of him plus he wanted to show it off to her as well. He couldn't wait to see the reaction on her face maybe they could celebrate together? Ever since their last big date he had been looking for something to do next. Although he would have to avoid Neji, when the clones were discovered by him Naruto had the memories of that encounter transferred.

He really hoped that Neji wasn't holding a grudge against him, but to be on the safe side maybe he would try and avoid him for a little bit longer.

Tsunade's smile left her as she knew it was time to get down to business as she leaned forward. "Well whatever plans you all want I suggest you make it quick. Team 7 you have a special mission that I'll need to send you both on."

"A mission already?" Sakura asked surprised.

Tsunade nodded as she took a folder and looked at Asuma and Shikamaru and dismissed them for the day she didn't have anything for them just yet and they didn't need to know about the mission. When they left she opened the folder and turned it around so the entire team could look at it.

"We have been asked to do a joint mission with Suna," Tsunade explained the mission. "Since we are technically still 'at war' with the Sound village for what they did we have been trying to find the location of their village. Given that Orochimaru also runs this village apparently we can't let him just go unpunished for everything he's done in the past and hold a whole village worth of ninja under his command."

"Suna felt the same so a joint mission had been discussed, we recently found information from one of our sources that a possible location of the village would be in the Land of Rice Fields. At least there are some signs that the Sound ninja have been operating in that area. You're job will be to help capture any ninja for interrogation and find the location of the village. You are not to enter the village if you find it, this is a search mission and if Orochimaru finds out that we know where he's located he might pull up and run."

Tsunade remembered in the wars that when the smaller villages got caught in the crossfire or where discovered by the larger villages they would usually bug out of the place. The smaller ninja villages were able to do that with their lower population as they hardly had civilians in their villages. They couldn't have major trade like say Konoha that could defend the village from large attacks making merchants feel safe to put up shops. It was one of the reasons why the larger villages could afford so much as the merchant trade helped with the economy of running the village.

They wouldn't have that kind of luck with the Sound village, they couldn't just follow merchants right to the village as the smaller more hidden ones were smart enough not to take supplies directly to the village for just that reason.

"So who is this source exactly?" Kakashi asked looking more closely at the file.

"Jiraiya," Tsunade told them.

"Ero-sennin is out there?" Naruto asked surprised he had been wondering where the old hermit had disappeared to lately.

Tsunade tried not to smirk at the nickname no matter how appropriate she thought it was for him. "He's already in the area but he moves around quickly, I want you to try and find him and see what's he learned. If possible to also find the Sound village or at least if they aren't based in those lands what they are doing there. We can't let them roam around the lands doing as they please."

"Do we know what the Suna team will be like?" Sakura asked her.

Tsunade shook her head, "The reports didn't specify only that it's a three man team that you'll be meeting up with in a village listed in the report. From there you'll go to where Jiraiya was last reported that he was on the trail, try to pick up his trail and find him. I know it won't be easy as he is Konoha's spy master at the moment."

"Why don't we just look in every red light district or in the bushes of every hot spring?" Naruto said crossing his arms. "We'll most likely find him in either place."

Everyone sweat dropped as Naruto's comment might have been a bit too accurate, Tsunade felt a headache coming on as she might put good money on that was how they found him. Honestly why couldn't that man just act his age for once? Sure when he was younger it made a kind of sense but it was like he never grew out of that phase.

Kakashi coughed into his hand to get attention onto him and off Naruto's comment. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow if possible," Tsunade told them. "Anymore questions?"

There were none so everyone was dismissed for the day, Team 7 left the same way they came in now going down the stairs.

"I better tell my parents I'll be going for a bit," Sakura sighed she wanted to enjoy her promotion a bit more but it looked like they were already set out on their first missions as chunins. She knew her parents would be proud of her but they always did worry when she left on long term missions.

Sasuke was already making mental plans on what he might need for this mission, he didn't have anyone to say goodbye to so it left him more free time to plan things out.

Naruto was already trying on the vest but stopped when he felt it get in the way of the sword he liked to carry on his back. "Ah man the sword's in the way." Naruto liked carrying it on his back as it was the same sword that his adopted grandfather used.

"I can fix that up before we leave to modify it with a sheath," Kakashi told him taking the jacket and looking it over. "Some ninja like to modify these with little touches as they don't come with everything. I can show the rest of you on the mission as well if you find something you'd like to do."

"Is yours modified Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked looked at his own vest.

"Only a little," Kakashi told her honestly. "I switched out the heavier plating in the back with a more lighter metal as I didn't like to be slowed down as much. Plus a little here and there so it fit me better, mainly it's just the little things for myself. The pockets are unique to every ninja anyway so think carefully of what you'd want in them."

The three newly appointed chunin nodded their heads as Naruto took off his vest with the sword and handed it to his dad.

"Can you take these home for me, I really want to put on the vest and show it off to Hinata-chan before we leave." He asked his father.

Kakashi chuckled and nodded as he took the items and gave back Naruto his new vest. The boy quickly put it on and tried out the feel of it. It felt nice on himself he figured, he might need to adjust it a bit for his body size but not too much. Naruto rushed off to the Hyuga compound hoping that Hinata would be home as the others watched him run off.

For Naruto it was easy getting to the front doors of the walls that surrounded the compound. Decided to not try and sneak in he went to the guards and asked if Hinata was in. They would know if any of the main branch were still in or not. They hold him she was still inside as she asked permission to enter they let him in as they normally did as he was a usual sight around the place over the years. The guards all knew him and that he was a close friend of Hinata's. Although as he walked into the massive place he started to wonder if his relationship with Hinata had gotten around. Most likely as he looked to see various glances his way.

Some seems curious, a few seemed to almost be judging him like his worth might not be up to par with their own. A few got a few smiles, mainly from branch family members, they were usually the ones that were a bit more loose maybe because they didn't have as much weighing them down at the main branch who had to run everything. Over the years he had learned a lot about the differences in both casts, personally he didn't see why there was a need for two sides of the family, Sasuke said that the Uchiha had never done anything like it. Actually Sasuke had a lot to say about the differences in Uchiha and Hyuga surprisingly. It was one of the few subjects he actually seemed to like talking about.

Looking around he didn't see Hinata in any of the training areas so he went up to the main household on his way to her room he found her in the hallways. "Hey Hinata-chan!"

Hinata turned around and was surprised to see Naruto but noticing the green vest he was wearing her eyes went a bit larger.

Naruto chuckled, "Guess who made chunin today?"

"N-Naruto-kun that's wonderful," She was honestly very happy for him. She always believed that he could do it and seeing him now in his vest made her smile. She could see just how happy he looked, most might not because of the mask he wore these days but she could just tell by looking at him. She knew him better than anyone and the slight way he carried himself spoke volumes to her.

"Thanks I wanted you to be the first person I told after all."

"M-Me?" She felt her cheeks blush slightly.

"Of course you're my girlfriend after all so why wouldn't I?"

She smiled back at him, "You're right, I'm very proud of you."

With that he couldn't stand it anymore, he quickly took a step forward and hugged her. He hugged her close to him tightly as was enjoying the feel of his girlfriend against him. She really smelled nice he suddenly noticed, he kept wondering if that was a soap or shampoo she used that he was currently smelling. He made a mental note to find out one day maybe if she liked that stuff he could buy it for her as a present or something. Damn he really was going to have to talk with other girls and find out what they liked more often. He didn't want to really screw things up by getting her something she might not like. Her birthday was coming up in a few months too, he would have to get her something special for it.

Hinata blushed of course when he suddenly hugged her but she was slowly getting used to physical contact with Naruto, she was still a bit shy but she was slowly working her way past that. Plus the things he had done on their date made this seem so much more innocent in retrospect. She blushed harder at those memories, she hoped her father never found out about it. Oh...speaking of which as she saw the figure behind Naruto.

"Ahem," A deep cough brought Naruto out of his happy moment and looked behind him slightly annoyed. Then he did a double take and quickly let her go and got next to her showing his hands.

"See my hands were in a respectable place the entire time!" He suddenly said to the loaming form of Hinata's father who was giving him his best neutral stare. Naruto really hoped that he didn't think that he was doing anything perverted with Hinata. The last time he thought that they had ended up on a chase into the night on the rooftops of the village.

Hiashi just continued to stare down the boy without any kind of expression, Naruto hated it when he did this. It was unsettling and the way his pale eyes just bore into you Naruto felt like the man was somehow using the Byakugan to look right into his soul. He continued to look at Naruto for a long silent moment as the awkward moment. When he felt the boy had had enough he looked closely at the vet he was wearing.

"You've been promoted I see," Hiashi spoke finally.

"Uh...yeah," Naruto was a little unbalanced not expecting that. "I was just showing Hinata-chan as I got a mission tomorrow."

"Oh you do?" Hinata was a little disappointed hearing that.

"Yeah sorry I was going to tell you that next," Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Apparently it's kind of important and we need to head out tomorrow so I wanted to see you before I left. Not sure how long the mission will take."

"Oh," Although she would miss him she was thankful that he took the time to see her and let her know.

"Well thank you for letting my daughter know," Hiashi spoke up. "But I was taking Hinata to be trained with Hanabi now."

"Oh okay then," Naruto could hear the words that they were busy and he should go now in his tone. "Well do your best Hinata-chan I know you can do it."

"Thank you," She felt better hearing his encouragement.

Naruto waved to her goodbye as he left the house he turned a corner to head to the main gate when he nearly bumped into someone. He stopped dead seeing Neji in front of him, the older boy had his arms crossed and looked to have been waiting for him to get out of the house as Naruto had taken the most direct path to the front gate.

"Uh...hey Neji what's up? You do something different with your hair?" Nothing, not even a twitch from that and that worried Naruto. "Uh...so...how have ya been?"

Still silence and Naruto was quickly trying to remember the quickest way out of here the bad news was that Neji most likely knew of all those places too.

"Hatake," Neji finally spoke up. "We need to talk."

"About what?" Naruto knew but he could always hope it might be about the weather.

"About you and Hinata-sama and what happened when you two were alone for a few hours." Neji clarified.

Naruto groaned this had been turning out to be such a good day today too.

**Next up Chapter 17: We Three from Suna**


	17. We Three From Suna

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 17: We Three from Suna**

It was early morning when Team 7 formed up by the main gate, all of the newly promoted chunins were wearing their green combat jackets now. There were little details such as Sakura had scrolls in her vest pockets that held medical equipment as well as medical scrolls that Tsunade wanted to study while she was away. For Sasuke he had added on the Uchiha clan symbol on the back of it. Naruto had the small sword of his grandfather attacked to the back of it.

Although Naruto's odd behavior was what the entire team noticed more. Instead of the usual hyperactive self he looked a little haggard and was dragging himself along like he was on a death march.

"What happened to him?" Sasuke asked Kakashi figured if anyone knew he would.

Kakashi just shrugged, "I honestly have no idea he came home like that and has been like this ever since. Although I think he's doing a little better. Every time I ask he just says that he doesn't want to talk about it. I pretty much hope he snaps out of it soon, I haven't seen him this down since that time there was the ramen shortage."

"Oh yeah he was pretty down that one time it happened," Sakura did remember how that happened years ago. Looking at him now made her remember that. "Naruto are you okay?"

"I don't want to talk about it," He said glumly.

Both Sakura and Sasuke looked to Kakashi who only shrugged as if to say that he had told them so. With that Team 7 started to make their way to the meeting spot. It was to be in a village inn that was in the same country they were investigating. The trip would take a few days to get there so they traveled as fast as they could. They weren't pushing themselves as they had plenty of time, at least along the way Naruto started to lighten up but he didn't talk about whatever happened at the Hyuga place.

By the time they had crossed the border Naruto was back to his old self, they spent all their time training and getting used to the new jackets as well as breaking them in. Finally they had arrived in the village they were to meet in. So far it looked like your average village, nothing too big there were the usual shops and merchants. There didn't seem to be much in the way that made the village stand out either. It was like any other village that had seen the kind that you might stop off for a night to rest before moving on, the kind with families and close neighbours.

The village most likely had something for merchants, there was plenty of wood, maybe some farm land or a mine to help with the economy but nothing really apparent.

They asked around for the inn and soon found themselves standing outside of a three story hotel. Again nothing out of the ordinary at least until they say the name plate. Kakashi had thought that the name they were given had been wrong but there it was.

"Who in the world names a hotel the Silver Snail Inn?" Naruto asked nearly deadpanned.

"Someone with a warped sense of naming," Sasuke answered at the sign that had a large silver snail on the wooden sing with the name written in the shell of the snail. How a place like this stayed in business he wasn't sure but looking around there wasn't much in the way of inns so maybe it was just not having much competition.

With a group shrug they all went in and got lodgings for the night as the sun low in the sky they only had a few hours of daylight left. Plus after being on the road a nice bed and meal would do them all some good. They could resupply in the morning when they left the inn in the morning and hopefully they would meet up with the Suna team.

"Man where are they?" Naruto muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. "Wasn't there something about more about where we meet them?"

"Nope just this inn that's it," Kakashi told his son.

"How do we know they're even here, it's not like we can ask if three ninja from Suna showed up." He asked again. He doubted that any ninja would tell the inn keeper that plus what if the ninja team wasn't wearing Suna symbols? If they were trying to keep their presence secret would they even be wearing anything that could identify them as Suna ninja?

Naruto wished they could have at least said who it was they were meeting, a description or something or where they just supposed to hang out here until the Suna team arrived? He placed his hands into his pants pockets getting impatient already. He was going to at least look around the place to see if the inn had anything going for it. Maybe a game room or something to relax in some inns had recreation rooms or maybe a nice outdoor bath or something. He had already remembered the room number they were using anyway.

Naruto didn't get far as he turned a corner and nearly slammed into a very familiar face with red hair and a tattoo over one eye.

"Gaara!?" Naruto nearly fell back from suddenly running into the boy.

"Naruto Hatake," Gaara said in his usual monotone voice only there wasn't the old malice in it. Sure there wasn't much emotion behind it but at least there was no bloodlust. Gaara looked at the masked boy surprised as well to see him there but unlike Naruto didn't show much of a reaction.

Now just because Gaara's emotions were usually very well hidden didn't mean the boy didn't have them. In fact ever since he had left Konoha and his talk with Naruto if left Gaara thinking on a lot of things and the boy had spent a lot of time trying to figure himself out. For years he had only thought of himself as just a weapon that killing others was the only way to prove his existence that only he could love himself.

But Naruto had shown him something more something Gaara had forgotten and buried a long time ago after the pain of the betrayal of his uncle. In that time Gaara had slowly been taking steps on trying to be better person to slowly relearn what it was like to be more human than just a weapon of the village.

"Hey uh...how are things?" Naruto nearly smacked his head thinking if he could have come up with something even more lame than that.

"Better," Gaara said simply.

"Oh well that's good...so...what are you doing here?"

"We have a mission here."

Suddenly it clicked for Naruto, "No way, hey are you the Suna team that we were supposed to meet up with?" With Gaara's nod Naruto got his answer. "Hey that's good to know I wasn't sure who it was we would be with but at least it's with someone I know. Come on my dad and team are here too so let's find them."

Naruto quickly ran back to get his team and show them that he found part of the Suna team but today wasn't his day as he once again ran into someone. Although this time when he turned the corner he had been going too fast to react before slamming face first into something. He wasn't sure what it was that his face hit only that it was kind of soft and felt nice. He smelt something like light perfume and was about to pull back before a woman's indignant outcry was heard and soon a nearly blinding pain slamming into his skull.

Naruto fell onto his back looking up holding his head in pain.

"What the hell do you think you're doing you pervert!" Temari roared out covering her chest with one hand. She had been looking for Gaara a little worried about him, he had been acting a lot nicer lately but she wasn't sure he wouldn't lose his temper with strangers. The last thing she wanted was to have some little pervert ram their face into her chest.

Naruto looked up to see who it was and pointed at her in shock.

"Ah you're..." he sweat dropped as her name escaped him at the moment maybe she had knocked that info out of his skull. "You're...Gaara's sister!"

That only angered the girl more, "It's Temari! At least remember a girl's name when you sexual harass them!"

"I didn't sexually harass anyone it was an accident!"

"Temari what's with all the yelling did you find Gaara yet?" Kankuro asked walking into the scene. He had heard his sister yelling at someone and was wondering who had been stupid enough to get her pissed. Temari was slow to anger at times but when she did get angry it could be almost as scary as Gaara although for entirely different reasons.

When he found his older sister and younger brother in a hallway with a familiar masked ninja on the ground he looked down at the Leaf ninja.

"Hey you're that guy from Konoha right? Naruto Hatake was it?"

Naruto looked at the black clothing wearing boy he looked a lot like he had in the chunin exams only now he was carrying another bundle on his back and his war paint was different.

"Oh yeah you're...," He mentally cursed. "Uh...Gaara's big brother right? The make-up guy."

"It's war paint not make-up, you want to die?" He yelled back at the boy. "And my name is Kankuro!"

"Hey I'm first he's the one that groped me." Temari told her brother angrily making a point to cross her arms over her chest.

"I didn't grope you I ran into you!" Naruto defended himself although he was in some trouble he had to admit he could still remember the feeling of where his face had been. He hoped he wasn't blushing because it would just make him look guilty. How was it that he somehow always got into trouble? Well yeah some of it had been his own fault but this had been a total accident.

"You groped her do you have a death wish or something?" Kankuro asked him wondering if he should just step back and let his sister deal with this given she never took it easy on anyone especially if they pissed her off.

"What is going on over there?" Sakura yelled out hearing shouting and knowing that one of the voices had been Naruto's so she had come over to see what was going on. When she saw three familiar faces looking at her she stopped in her tracks.

"Eh...you three?" Sakura blinked. "Are you three the Suna team were told we would be meeting up with?"

"Wait...you guys are the Leaf members?" Kankuro asked them. "I thought we were going to get chunin for backup."

"They're wearing vest," Temari told him as she now took the time to notice that Sakura and Naruto both had on chunin vests that Konoha ninja liked to wear. By the looks of it they had been promoted, well the mission called for chunin and nothing was said for experienced chunin although she would have preferred some with some experience to be honest. Then again her village was hurting as well for people given that the number of Suna ninja killed while attacking Konoha had been higher than they would have liked to admit.

"So what's going on here with all the shouting?" Sakura asked shaking her head getting back to what brought her here.

"It's because this little-"Temari started to say before being interrupted by Naruto quickly.

"I ran into her by accident!" Naruto quickly said hoping that if he talked quickly enough he could change the subject. "Anyways I found Gaara and then these two, we should find dad so that we can all get together right, right? Come on Gaara this way!"

He quickly grabbed Gaara and went past everyone looking for his dad hoping his little distraction worked at least long enough to get out of the immediate area. Gaara just went with it mainly because this was the first time someone grabbed him without any fear of himself. Normally he wouldn't even let anyone touch him but it had been one of the things he had been working on.

"Hey what the, where do you think you're going?" Temari demanded taking off after the masked boy who was dragging her brother away something she thought she would never see.

Sakura looked at Kankuro confused as she silently asked him just what was going on. He considered telling her but he just signed and waved it off. "Don't bother asking I think it's just too much of a headache to get into anyway."

He put his hands into the pockets of his jumpsuit walking off leaving a confused Sakura behind. She just sighed and walked off as well as she didn't want to be left behind.

It didn't take long to find Kakashi and Sasuke as all of them decided to meet up in one of their rooms. They all gathered around a small table in the large room that Team 7 had gotten although it was a tight fit with everyone there around the table and Temari wouldn't stop giving Naruto glares now and then making sure to fit far away from him. She knew he wouldn't try something but she was still pissed at him and wanted to let him know it.

That didn't go unnoticed by everyone else but they didn't comment on it as the tension was already enough. Given that the last time they had met Gaara he had been in the hospital after Naruto had put him in there which was also after he had tried to kill Sasuke in the exams and had gone a little bloodthirsty while transforming. Which was why Gaara was flanked by his siblings although Sasuke kept an eye on the boy, Gaara was surprisingly calm.

Normally where this air of danger hung around the boy it was replaced by a more silent calmness. Even Temari and Kankuro seemed more relaxed around the boy.

"So is it just you three?" Kakashi asked the three Suna ninja. "If I remember you had a jonin sensei of your own."

"Baki-sensei was already on another mission," Temari explained to them. "But given our team's history it was decided we could handle it on our own." Although one of those reasons was that people were still freaked out about Gaara. This way they got him out of the village and given the dead of their father their village was really split on what to do about Gaara. Their father might not have been the most warm person but he had kept the village in line.

Now with him gone there was just so much uncertainty on what was going to happen, the council was so far keeping things together but until they found a new leader things were going to be tough. There were the ones that had lost loved ones to Konoha and Sound. Some wanted revenge against Sound for their betrayal by killing their leader and Orochimaru posing at him. Others wanted to finish what they started as there had been resentment over how Konoha had been getting more missions than them which were the life blood of ninja village.

Some did want peace and to rebuild themselves in case the other three great ninja villages felt that they could take Suna off the playing field. It was all of this that Temari felt that her team should maybe leave the village for a bit and this mission seemed like the perfect opportunity. It would get Gaara out of the village for a bit and maybe start to heal some wounds between the villages.

Kakashi looked the girl over and nodded she was very mature for her young age as she seemed to carry herself well. She had potential to be a good leader one day he felt her brothers well Kankuro was easy enough to read but Gaara. That boy had changed although into what he had no idea at the moment, the boy's face and mood was as unreadable as his own.

"Well now that we got together we should start in the morning searching for Jiraiya," Kakashi leaned back in his chair. "It's late so why don't we meet up tomorrow and we can plan out how to find him."

"Are there any leads to where he might be?" Kankuro asked thinking about it. "I mean he's one of you guys right?"

"Yes well the thing about Jiraiya," Kakashi tried to think of a good way to explain it. "He kind of does things his own way. He sends messages in but he keeps very mobile because of the nature of his work. Although we have an idea on how to find him but we should see if people in the village have seen something that matches his description."

"So...where do we start?" Temari asked.

"This town has a red light district?" Naruto asked.

"What!?" Temari shouted at him glaring at the boy thinking he was trying something funny again.

Before Naruto could explain himself further Kakashi quickly covered his son's mouth in case he dug himself deeper. He did have an unnatural ability for his mouth to get him into trouble at times.

"Don't mind him we've been traveling for some time and I think we all could use some sleep," Kakashi eye smiled at them.

Temari wasn't buying it but she kept reminding herself that this was supposed to heal the rift between Suna and Konoha and killing a certain little blonde masked boy might be seen as going against the spirit of this whole thing. She got up as her siblings followed her lead.

"Fine we got a room down the hall," Temari told them.

Kakashi nodded to her as the Suna team made their way to the door to the room, Temari was the taking the rear as she managed to catch some of the conversation that Kakashi was having with Naruto.

"So what did you do to get her all pissed?" She heard Kakashi ask Naruto as the boy at least had the decency to blush and looked embarrassed. He said something that she couldn't hear but by Kakashi's reaction of how he suddenly stood up a bit more straight she had a guess what he said.

"Yeah that would do it, better be careful you don't want Hinata thinking you're cheating on her," Kakashi joked.

"The Leaf are full of perverts," Temari muttered darkly as Naruto tried to say that he wasn't cheating loudly enough for them all to hear.

"I knew I should have worn my clothing with the breast plate on it," Temari muttered to herself making a mental note to change into that uniform later on when she had the chance. It was a bit more flashy than the white battle dress she was currently wearing but she would gladly trade that away at the moment. She had it in her room and she would wear that for this mission if only to make herself feel better.

**-Land of Rice Fields: Secret Sound Base-**

In one of the many underground facilities that had been secretly set up, Orochimaru currently called this one 'home' as it were. Like all his bases they were created under the ground with rock walls, floors and ceilings with torches the only real light sources given there were no windows this far down under the ground. These bases were a little claustrophobic but it paid off for security and secrecy. Villages tended to be set up like normal villages but Orochimaru took lessons from snakes, he build his facilities under the ground where they could stretch for miles and ninja could just walk right over and miss them.

He also didn't centralize the village but split it up into different sections, usually they were specialised and set up for specific purposes. This one was one of the bases set up for some of Orochimaru's experiment. Currently Orochimaru was in his private quarters sitting at a desk with scrolls all around him with notes set up neatly. He was doing basic research into more jutsu that he could use and also looking up information that could prove useful to later.

There was a knock on his heavy wooden door since only a few people were allowed accessed to his room and they all knew better than to disturb him unless it was important he set aside his work and turned his chair around.

"Come in," he called out as he watched Kabuto walking into the room.

"Forgive the intrusion but we recently got a report in from some of our ninja on scouting duty in this area." He handed the report over to Orochimaru. "They spotted a team from Konoha entering the area at first I didn't think much but the leader was identified as Kakashi Hatake and the three young ninja in his command match that of his team."

Orochimaru chuckled as he read the report himself, "Ah so Sasuke-kun had arrived and if I'm not mistaken the Jinchuriki boy is also there. This might prove to be a very good opportunity for us. We can get Sasuke-kun for ourselves and if we can take out the Jinchuriki it would really hamper the plans for Akatsuki if the boy were to die before they got what they needed from him."

After he had left that organization he made it one of his priorities to slow them down, although he wasn't sure what the Akatsuki end game was as Pain hadn't been very forthcoming with everyone, Orochimaru could tell that it was big. Gathering data on all the hosts for the Tailed Beasts and there were reports of them going after the hosts lately. Only two had been taken but he could see something was happening.

Although he wasn't sure what he knew that if he could kill one of the hosts it would be a major setback plus it had been that boy that he stopped his fight with the Third Hokage. Although the plan to blow up the building in order to break the seal had been very lateral thinking, he had been furious that his goal of killing the old man had been stopped. As soon as the building had stopped falling down he had seen the barrier down and knew that Konoha would come down on him. The First and Second that he had brought back had been buried so he had to release the jutsu on them before leaving.

He had thought about letting them loose to cover his escape but if they had them immobilised they might have figure out his jutsu even if it was forbidden he never liked to take chances. Plus they had also gotten in the way when he had been after Tsunade, there hadn't been time to try and convince Sasuke to seek him out for power either.

Reading the reports it looked like only Kakashi and his team so far, if he could take out that team it would hurt Konoha to have lost one of their best jonin, their Jinchuriki and the last Uchiha. The girl as far as he could tell was no one of consequence at the moment but still you could never be too careful.

"This is good news," Orochimaru grinned looking at his most trusted right hand. "Are they still following them?"

"Yes but I gave orders not to take any chances," Kabuto replied. "Given that this is Kakashi we should be very careful that he doesn't notice anyone. I sent our best trackers to help but they are to remain out of sight at all times and sent a runner back to report every day."

"Excellent, then I think it's time we plan to welcome them to these lands. Although I am curious why they are here, get the Sound Four ready I'm sure they are eager to make up for their inability to keep the barrier up in Konoha."

Kabuto nodded his head, "They have been very sore over that."

"Good they can take on the Sasuke-kun's friends while I deal with Kakashi."

"And myself?" Kabuto asked.

"You can restrain Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru wasn't taking any changes this time. Sasuke had already slipped through his fingers twice already and there would not be a third time. If he couldn't convince Sasuke to follow him then he would take the boy by force. He needed a new host body soon, he could already feel this body starting to wear thin. He could feel himself slowing down one of the first signs that the body was starting to burn itself out.

He would need a new body soon a stronger one and with the sharingan he could do more in the few years he had that body then he could with half a dozen or more. There would be no stopping him once he mastered those eyes, he would seek out every unique ninja in the known world and gather more jutsu than any ninja on the face of the planet. When Sasuke's body eventually wore out he would know more than anyone on the planet. He truly believed that knowledge lead to the path of true power and he would be the most powerful ninja in existence.

He would live forever and keep on learning until he stood at the top of the world he would be the ultimate ninja. It would be glorious and it was all so close now that he could almost taste it, he had failed to get Itachi and if had known of the slaughter of the Uchiha would have happened he would have taken a few before but that was the past. He learned from his mistakes and missed chances and this time he wouldn't take any chances.

He would get Sasuke this time no matter who he had to sacrifice for it.

**Next up Chapter 18: The Search for Jiraiya**


	18. The Search for Jiraiya

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 18: The Search for Jiraiya**

It had been an uneventful night for the teams although after breakfast they were all gathered in Team 7's room for a meeting on how to deal with their latest mission. Currently they were sitting around a large round table that was only a couple of feet off the ground as they were all sitting on the floor. It was a tight fit with everyone here but the Suna siblings were of course sitting together, Temari made it a point to sit as far from Naruto as possible showing a subtle hint she was still slightly pissed at him.

Given that Sakura and Sasuke weren't too keen on sitting next to Gaara at the moment they let Naruto sit next to him. Kakashi looked over the teams and ever since he had been given the mission he had worried if there would be any problems with working with Suna. Thankfully it seemed that neither team had any personal reasons to hate the other. Some people had lost loved ones or had some injured during the battle in the Leaf Village so that was something he didn't have to worry about.

Although there was a bit of tension it wasn't at the level he feared he would have to work with. So the idea he had in mind would work out to help give some teamwork for both teams.

"Now then the last reports showed that Jiraiya was in this town but although I doubt he's still here I want us to look around for information," Kakashi pulled out slips of paper with a drawing on Jiraiya with them. "These should help but in case he is still here I want to set us up into teams of two for you six."

"I want one Suna and one Leaf ninja to look around for clues, this way if we're lucky and run into Jiraiya he'd be more inclined to believe that you're looking for him with a Leaf ninja with you. Plus he knows myself and Naruto personally so it will be easier if one of us finds him. I'm also certain he would know who Naruto's teammates are as well." At least Kakashi thought so he knew that Jiraiya kept an eye on Naruto when he could and Kakashi had informed Jiraiya of who Team 7 was and how they were doing the last time they met.

Looking at the faces he came up with what he felt might be the best possible set ups.

"Naruto I want you and Gaara, Sasuke you'll be with Kankuro and Sakura you'll be with Temari."

He looked around as there didn't seem to be any problems with the team assignments, he mentally sighed at that glad that there wouldn't be any problems with it. With that he told them all to split up and take different areas of the town and meet back up later that day. With that the ninjas went off on their search for any clues about Jiraiya. Kakashi went off on his own thinking the teams could handle themselves at the moment.

Naruto wasn't sure how to make small talk with Gaara although the red headed boy wasn't giving off any kind of vibe like he was going to kill everyone around him the silence the boy had was a little unnerving. Naruto racked his brain trying to think of something as they just wondered through the town.

"So...uh...how are things going?" Naruto knew it was lame as soon as it left his mouth but he had nothing else.

Gaara while keeping his eyes forward was silent for a moment before speaking, "Things are different but they seem...fine."

"Well okay then," Naruto shrugged. "So things are good then, I mean last time we met and everything you seemed kind of..." he wasn't sure how to put it as he really didn't want to piss the other ninja off. Although he seemed okay but it hadn't been that long ago the boy had to struggle from killing anyone that looked at him the wrong way.

Gaara cast a small glance Naruto's way thinking on things since he had left the Leaf village. He had found himself changed after the events he had gone through, next to him was a boy that held one of the Tailed Beasts just like him but the boy still have others in his life. After seeing how Naruto's life was and from his talk with him, Gaara had started to try and be more open at least for him. He still had no idea how to be 'friendly' to others so he fought back the old urges that he used to give in to.

He had started to treat his older siblings nicer and soon found that after they got used to his new way of dealing with people, they were more at ease around him. In fact they talked to him more without any fear even asking how he was doing. Although Gaara didn't show much emotion on the outside the small steps that he and his siblings took to repair their relationship gave a strange warmth to the red head that although it felt strange he liked it. It was much better than the emptiness that he had tried to fill with blood.

Naruto shrugged as they looked around but if Jiraiya was here there was only one place he might show himself at. "I hate to ask but we might need directions for someplace."

Gaara looked at the boy, "You don't sound pleased about it, is this not the mission?"

"Yeah but what I have to ask for is something I know will get weird," Naruto sighed as he looked around. There were a few people around so he went up to a lone male that was working a fruit stand, there was no way in hell he was going to ask anyone with females among them, he already had enough trouble with Temari at the moment.

"Hey we need directions can you help?" Naruto asked him.

"Sure kid what do you need?" The shop keeper asked seeing them, he noticed the weapon on the kid and the ninja clothing. He might be a civilian from a small country but he knew a ninja when he saw one. Although the two did look a little young to him but ninja life wasn't what he knew about.

"Um well...does this town have...well," Naruto looked around seeing no one close by. "Does this town have some kind of red light district? Or something that you can usually find in that kind of place here?"

The man gave Naruto an odd look which Naruto expected, someone his age no matter what he did asking for those kinds of places would make anyone look strangely at him.

"Kid why in the hell would you ask about that kind of thing?" The man raised an eyebrow at him.

Naruto shifted as he tried to think, "We're looking for our grandpa, he's supposed to be in this village. He's kind of tall with long white spiky hair, our grandmother sent us to get him as he's been known to hang around those kinds of places."

Naruto remembered how his dad once told him that the best lies were always something with a little bit of truth in them. It was true that Tsunade had sent them after him and that Jiraiya did like to hang around those places. He just figured if the man thought that this was a family matter then maybe he would be more willing to help. He was thankful that he wore a mask as it also made it a lot easier to lie.

The man seemed to nod looking at the two of them over they didn't seem like they were relatives but then again the one kid's mask hid a lot of his face. There was also the fact the blank look in the red head's eyes was a little disturbing. Well it wasn't any of his business really plus he had his inventory to sell at any rate.

With a sigh he pointed them in the right direction as Naruto thanked him as they left. Gaara was silent for a moment having taken in everything. He knew that lying was part of a ninjas job sometimes although he was a little confused by his reactions to the places he named. "Is there something wrong with a 'red light' district?"

Naruto nearly stumbled in his step as he looked at Gaara's blank reaction.

"You do know why they call it that right?" Again nothing but a blank look. "Okay well it's where you can find some adult stuff to do...you know with girls?"

Gaara still was giving him a blank look, "Does this have anything to do with that one girl I saw you with, the one with the white eyes?"

"Hinata-chan? Well yeah, no wait no, well...not yet we kind of do some stuff but nothing like...you know what forget about that stuff." Naruto palmed his face trying to think about this whole thing. "It has places where you can meet girls and stuff, you do know what to do with a girl right?"

Gaara just again gave him a blank look.

"Seriously!?" Naruto then thought about it as Gaara most likely hadn't even thought about girls before. He got a huge grin on his face, "Well I guess that means I can tell you all kinds of fun things you can do with the right girl."

**-East End of the Village-**

Sasuke and Kankuro found themselves looking through a more commercial area, Kankuro wasn't sure where they were supposed to be looking but Sasuke seemed to be actively looking for something so he just followed his lead. The boy seemed to stop at a book story as he looked at the front of the store, he stopped to see a certain set of books in the window. He seemed to scowl slightly at them before walking into the store. Kankuro looked at them and knew what they were, he had seen those books for sale all over the place.

You could see the label that showed it was for adult readers only which only made him wonder even more.

Sasuke entered the book story and saw a man working the counter he couldn't believe he was going to do this. This was one of the most humiliating things he would ask about but it wasn't like he had much choice. He walked up to the man as he looked at the young dark haired boy.

"Can I help you son?"

Sasuke tried not to clench his jaw, "I was wondering if the man that wrote those books in the window came by not too long ago? Jiraiya of the Sannin I heard was in the area."

The man eyed the young man curiously as he looked at his companion who wore an odd black outfit and with odder face paint. Although a few days ago the man had showed up, he had gotten some orders given that they were big sellers. But he didn't see why some young boy wanted to know about the author of those books.

"Look kid I don't just get authors showing up on my door step why are you so interested in the guy?"

Sasuke couldn't believe he was about to say these words but it was for the mission. "It's because I'm...a fan."

The man raised an eyebrow, "Find that hard to believe."

"Then Yoriko waited for her hero to show, she left the door to her balcony opened as an invitation for him. She knew her father disapproved of him but she couldn't stop her burning love for him. The times they shared in secret as his strong hands held her as he would take her to the highest levels of passion." Sasuke recited a part of the first book.

The shopkeeper knew that as well as he too had his own copies, given that he was able to get Jiraiya to sign his personal collection plus a few other copies. He was impressed that the kid had read the books.

"Hey that's from the first volume, surprised you were able to read that kid what did you do steal your old man's copy?" The man grinned knowing how young boys were.

Sasuke felt his eye twitch at the mention of his father as there was no way his father would have kept such crap in his home. But he kept his anger in check as he made up a story about being a fan of Jiraiya reading the books from his father's collection. He was able to get the shopkeeper after thinking that Sasuke was a fan opened up for the boy. After some questions Sasuke left the shop now with some information at least.

Kankuro who had silently bee watching the entire time couldn't get a grin off his face. Who would have thought that the seemingly cold and calm last of the Uchiha had secretly been reading adult books.

"Didn't know you were such a fan of those books," Kankuro nearly burst out laughing at expression on Sasuke's face.

Sasuke bristled at the comment, "I'm not but that idiot teammate of mine made me listen when he read a chapter out loud."

Although it had been a long time ago the memory of that moment was burned into his brain. Back in the academy Naruto had learned the head hunter technique and used it on Sasuke once. Naruto made him listen as he read out one of his father's books out loud in front of everyone. Of course Naruto had gotten punished for it but Sasuke had never forgotten that humiliation. Now that he thought about it he never did get him back for that day. Well that was a thought for another time given that event had actually been useful for once.

But he would be just perfectly glad to forget that had ever happened or what he had just gone through. His father might be turning over in his grave at the lies he had just used to get the man's trust back there. He hoped the others had other luck.

**-North end of the Village-**

With Temari and Sakura they were making their way through what looked to be a market. So far there were some interesting stores but as they asked around no one seemed to have noticed anyone that fitted Jiraiya's description. After an hour they were getting a little frustrated about the lack of finding anything.

"Maybe we should have asked for a red light district," Sakura muttered.

"Okay what is it with you Konoha ninja and that?" Temari asked her.

"It's not all of us," Sakura said in her defence. "It's just that Jiraiya-sama is, well he's kind of a major pervert." She hated to admit that one of the greatest living ninja of their village was such a perverted old man. When in the academy they had a whole chapter based around the Sannin but they had never mentioned anything of Jiraiya's hobbies. It was a depressing thought about what else was missing from history about what else had been changed. Then again maybe they hadn't said as much for a reason as she doubted impressionable kids shouldn't know about that kind of thing.

Temari had a slightly surprised look on her face but quickly wiped it off, it seemed that the Leaf village had some kind of pervert problem.

Suddenly a woman's cry got their attention as a woman ran out of an alleyway just ahead of them. She looked a little worse for wear, her clothing looked slightly tattered as she looked around her in a panicked state. She saw the two female ninja and quickly got up and went over to them.

"Please can you two help me, they're going to kill him!" She tugged on Sakura's arm. "Please we were just walking by when they grabbed us they said they wanted our money but we didn't have much. I just got away but they'll kill him if I don't get help."

Sakura gave Temari a look that said that they couldn't just ignore it but Temari was looking at the girl with narrowed eyes as though she was seeing things that Sakura was missing. The girl tugged harder on Sakura's hand making the young girl follow her as Temari followed not wanting to be separated but she was extremely quiet as they followed the young woman. She took them down the alleyway as they took a few turns before she led them into a dead end.

Sakura was a little confused but saw Temari stiffen looking behind them as Sakura heard footsteps behind them. They turned to see the way they had came being blocked by a dozen men. All of them looked like hard men who had lived hard lives, recently sporting several injuries as well. They all carried with them various weapons and were giving them nasty looks as well.

The woman got a gruesome grin on her face as she quickly jumped away from the two of them.

"Nice going Lisa," A big man that looked to be their leader spoke up. "Looks like you caught us a couple of nice easy marks. Now be good little girls and hand over all your valuables."

Sakura inwardly groaned at how easily she had been led into this but looking around they only seemed to be just a regular street gang. There didn't seem to be any ninjas in the group so they most likely didn't have professional training in combat. What was strange was how Sakura felt no apprehension at all in this moment. There had been a time where she might have been afraid to be so outnumbered but she had faced much worse in her time as a ninja.

She had faced rogue ninja, even killed a man, she had trained under some of the best of their village, had fought against resurrected dead ninja and been in several major battles. In comparison to all of that this wasn't a worry for her. The sudden thud of Temari's battle fan made her look at the older girl as she had the same confidence on her own face.

"I knew something was up," Temari spoke up looking at them all. "The girl just happened to get away without being chased and without any real injuries on her body? You need a better line of work and you'll find that we're not going to be easy to deal with."

Sakura pulled out her tonfas gripping them in a defensive hold as Temari gripped her fan with both hands. The men paused not expecting much of a fight but they were just girls and they didn't seem to have anything too dangerous on them. So they made their way forward to attack the girls, Temari moved in first with surprising speed with the heavy weapon as the slammed it into not just one opponent but three of them and also sent them all flying back.

Handling of a Suna battle fan took a lot of strength and stamina to use and Temari had been training for years with the weapon. To her the heavy weapon was something she could easily handle. To the men it felt like they had just slammed their chests into a horse's kick.

Sakura wasn't one to be outdone as she moved in among a small group of the men. She was more quick and agile dodging their blows and using her tonfas on their weak points. She hit them in their elbows to make them drop their weapon, the back of the knee to drop their legs, she twirled the weapons around to use the small handles to hook one man and pulled him into another. She would use small powerful strikes to their solar plexus, under the armpit or the temple. She moved like a whirlwind among the thugs.

Temari didn't even have to unfold her fan she could tell that the men were an undisciplined rabble. They telegraphed their moves so easily to her that it was easy for her to stay ahead of them. She managed to get a look at Sakura while she was fending off her own attackers. The younger girl looked to have everything under control in fact her skills looked to have sharpened a bit. She did remember Sakura's fight in the finals it had been a drawn out fight but here she looked to have improved since then.

Well that was good, male ninja outnumbered female ones so it felt like as a woman you had to work harder in order to get recognized. So when Temari saw a female ninja with some skills it was a nice thing to see. Plus at least the Leaf village had more than just perverts in their village. Temari twirled her fan around to bash it into the face of one man, quickly pulled back to hit the one that was coming up behind her then followed it up with a low sweep to take the legs out of the third man.

Sakura had also been watching Temari when she could and it was easy to see that the older girl had some skills. She made her attacks look effortless as she seemed calm. Her movements were powerful and precise as she wielded the large weapon like Sakura wielded her own smaller weapons.

It didn't take long for the two of them to have the entire gang on the ground moaning from various injuries. Both young ninja were showing little signs of being tired and thankfully weren't sporting any injuries given that the men hadn't had a chance against two trained ninja. Sakura rolled her shoulders thankful that Kakashi had helped to set the new vest so it fit her well. Putting it to the test in battle hadn't been on her mind today but she was thankful that she had now. It felt like it had fit perfectly on her during the whole fight.

"Can't believe this happened again," The large leader of the group spat onto the ground. A tooth flew out given he had been hit in the face by Temari's weapon earlier. "First the old white haired pervert and now two little girls. Some gang we are, we'll be laughing stocks if this gets out."

"Hold up what did you just say?" Sakura heard him and stepped towards him. "You said something about a white haired old man, was it long spiky hair and dressed in red?"

"Like I'm going to tell you anything!" He shouted up at her only to be silenced when Temari slammed her fan down next to his head. He slowly looked at the black metal weapon and then slowly up to the blonde young woman who was grinning down at him with a dark look in her eyes.

"I think you'll find that it's better to answer her question," Temari told him with the threat in her voice very obvious to him.

**-Later that Day-**

By the end of the day they had all gathered back into the hotel room to see if they could have found any leads. Kakashi looked over them all as they all seemed slightly tired from searching the place. He had looked up to try and find any kind of hidden signs that sometimes Jiraiya used for pickups but nothing was seen. Plus he had tried looking over the area to find evidence that he had been around. The only lead he had found was that one of the public baths needed repairs from someone being caught drilling holes into the women's section.

"So how did the rest of you do?" Kakashi asked them.

"We found out that he sold some of his books here," Sasuke had gotten that much out of the owner of the book story. Apparently his books were one of the more popular ones and Jiraiya had shown up with a black eye to see if the story would like some more. He also apparently signed some of them so that the owner could sell them at a slightly increased price.

"The owner did say that there were other stores he could sell his books at," Sasuke pulled out a list. "These are the stores and where they are found but he didn't say anything about where he was going from this."

Kakashi took the list and nodded, this could help narrow down their search if only for a moment.

"Sakura, Tamari what did you two find?"

"We did have a run in with some kind of gang," Sakura told him feeling slightly impressed by herself. "They were pulling some kind of scam about a girl asking for help and then tried to gang up and rob people."

"When we beat them they said something about being beat up by a ninja before," Temari continued on. "From how they described him it sounded like Jiraiya, from the looks of it they said he was packed up for a long trip."

"They just told you all of this?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura and Temari shared a look before they both smiles, Temari a smiled just a bit more dangerously as she spoke up. "We asked really _nicely_ about it and they were very cooperative because of it."

She didn't fool anyone at the table but as long as no one was killed and the local police or whatever law enforcement this town had, didn't show up looking for some questions answered before they left Kakashi let it go. Although it wasn't like any police group could handle them it would just be a minor inconvenience to deal with such a hassle. Looking at Naruto and Gaara he wondered what they had found out.

"He plans to go up North," Naruto told them seemingly smug in what he had gathered. "In fact he was hoping to stop in at Three Pass village that's near a mountain. He was hoping to stop there since he heard some good things about that village so he might be there now. Maybe at some place called the Kitten Club if we hurry."

Kakashi blinked in surprised as did everyone else but Gaara. "How did you find that out?"

"I have my ways," He smiled smugly crossing his arms.

That was when Sasuke who was sitting next to him finally noticed the smell coming off Naruto. He took a stronger sniff of the air and looked accusingly at the boy. "Are you wearing perfume?"

Naruto nearly jumped and looked shocked at him before trying to deny such a thing. That was when Kankuro noticed the same smell coming off Gaara. He eyed his little brother wondering why he smelled like that. "Gaara...why are you covered in perfume too?"

He really hoped this wasn't some new thing with Gaara the unstable killing machine was something he knew how to cope with. If his little brother had picked up some new and strange hobby to supplant his old one he wasn't sure how to deal with it.

"It was most likely from those women," Gaara shrugged not caring how he smelt.

"What women?" Temari demanded to know not liking where this was going. Especially given how Naruto looked panicked and was making 'stop' gestures towards Gaara.

"The women at that strange club that Naruto took me too."

It was so quiet in that moment you could literally hear a pin drop at that point. That was until Temari's hand slammed into the round table they were sitting at.

"What club did you take my little brother to?" She demanded from Naruto.

"It was for the mission!" Naruto defended himself from the anger of the Suna female. "I figured that Ero-sennin would have gone to the more adult places first so I went looking for one."

"So you went to a brothel then," Sasuke said deadpanned towards him.

"You took my brother to a brothel!?" Temari was nearly seeing red in that moment.

"Naruto I know we had that talk but I think we might need to have another," Kakashi looked at his son. Although he did trust his son completely he was just being a good parent and making sure nothing happened.

"Naruto how could you?" Sakura demanded from him. "What if Hinata found out about that?"

"It wasn't a brothel!" Naruto shouted out. "It was just one of those places you pay women to hang out with you and nothing happened I would never betray Hinata-chan like that!"

"Ah so it was a hostess club," Kakashi felt a bit better at that. Those types of clubs the women would flirt with you and tease but they never had sex with the clients. It was just a place for men to escape into, a fantasy world where for one brief moment they didn't feel like losers or rejects and felt like the men they always wished they could be. Of course it was all an illusion but to some the illusion is all they had in life.

"You took Gaara to a hostess club?" Kankuro looked at his little brother and got a small grin on his face. "So how was it, meet any interesting girls?" That earned him a smack to the back of the head from Temari who was fuming.

"I said it was for the mission!" Naruto explained seeing her reaction from it. "I mean I know that he likes those types of places and after we managed to get in, which wasn't easy, we started asking around. The only way they would answer our questions was to pay for their time as they put it. So we just paid them to hang out and talk a bit."

He didn't feel it was safe to tell her that he was also trying to loosen Gaara up some and show him a good time.

"I thought you also said it would 'teach me about girls'?" Gaara asked him.

Naruto paled at Temari whipped her head at him, "Traitor!" Naruto managed to get out before dodging Temari's fan coming down on the spot where he had been.

"Hey calm down!" Naruto told her as she started chasing him around.

"I'll calm down when I teach you not to try and corrupt my brother with your perverted ways!" Temari angrily told him giving chase.

Sakura sighed, "Maybe I'll keep my mouth shut about that to Hinata. I think Naruto is going to get punished enough as it is by the looks of things. "Then she noticed Sasuke smiling as Naruto jumped out of the window with Temari chasing her.

"What's with you?"

Sasuke just shrugged, "Getting even for an old score apparently." He said cryptically although at first he hadn't meant to but his line of questions had lead to this. Ah yes the end of the day was turning out just fine for him.

Kakashi sighed as he got up, "I better make sure she doesn't kill him."

"Hell if she catches him death might be a mercy," Kankuro commented as the man went to the window to catch up to the two blondes. "My sis may be slow to get angry but when she does well it's not pretty. So Gaara...where was this place again?"

**Next up Chapter 19: On the Trail**

**Sorry for how long this took I've been sick for 2 weeks and I'm on a course at the moment.**


	19. On the Trail

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 19: On the Trail**

It had been over a week and already the united team had been on Jiraiya's trail. So far they had tracked him to several inns and a couple of towns. They were currently in a field one day away from their next target and from their information Jiraiya was most likely in the town. But it was getting late and Kakashi said that they would make camp before they got into the town as they would have all day then to start their search.

So the teams made camp as usual like they were used to but one particular female was in an open area practicing. Temari had her eyes closed as she moved in slow practiced movements with her fan fully extended. She swept it in very practiced movements, movements that had been burned into her muscle memory as she imagined the flow of her body. It looked like a complex fan dance to an outsider and in part it could be but in reality it was the Suna's fan style battle movements. She breathed in time with her movements as she was currently feeling the flow of chakra in her body.

Slowly her moves built up until she did a twist with her body and went a rush of deadly wind ahead of her the invisible wind sliced through the trees on the other side of the clearing sending the pieces crashing down.

She took a cleansing breath to look at her work from her view it wasn't bad. She was more used to using rocks as targets which were much tougher to cut through with a wind jutsu. Trees were much easier to cut so she wasn't sure how to judge the power of her attacks.

"Whoa that was cool," Naruto's voice jarred her from her thoughts as she quickly looked behind her with an annoyed look.

She had wanted to get in a little private practice plus the fact she hadn't even noticed him coming up on her also annoyed her. Both that he was able to do it and that she let it happen, if he had been an enemy she would have been killed.

"I'm busy," Temari told him folding up her fan looking away.

"Sorry but I really wanted to see you use your wind jutsu," Naruto told her honestly. "I mean I've never seen someone as good as you before, you're a hell of a lot better than I am." Naruto wasn't kidding the only other wind user he knew about was Asuma and he hadn't seen much of his skills in that.

Plus he figured that maybe if he appealed to her skills it might make her warm up to him. He had kind of made a bad impression on her and after getting to know her and her brothers more on this mission he felt that he didn't want to have her hating him. Plus maybe he could learn something from her it wasn't often he got the chance to talk about wind chakra with someone.

Temari paused as she listened to his compliment. "So you know wind chakra as well if I remember."

"Yeah I can do the wind blade with my sword easily enough but when I try this wind armor thing I keep screwing it up." Naruto jumped down to join her. "Every time I try it I can only get parts of my body to be covered like my arms but when I try my whole body I can't hold it."

Temari thought about it, "I've only heard of that technique so I can't really give you any hints on it really. It's supposed to cover your body in a protective wind shield. It's really hard to pull off because you have to hold it and yet have it flexible enough to move. You have to have lots of chakra and lots of control for it."

Naruto made a face at that last part, "Yeah that's my problem, every time I try to move it just kind of explodes."

Temari winced a wind jutsu that went wrong could be really dangerous. She had heard the horror stories of people both caster and bystander being shredded. "Maybe you should hold off on it until you get your concentration down."

"Yeah that's why I don't use it much anymore," Naruto muttered as he pulled his small sword out. "But at least I got this." He took a moment and concentrated thankful that the weapon was made to take chakra as it made this much easier. He slashed with the weapon as he used the wind slash technique. An invisible blade of wind travelled across the field making a slash mark into the ground and took three trees out.

"How's that?" Naruto asked grinning at her.

Temari nodded her head, "Not bad but how about this?"

The two of them spent the next ten minutes trying to show what they could do with their wind chakra, Naruto was eager to learn anything he could from her trying to get hints and advice from her. She really seemed to know a lot about wind chakra and as always he was eager to learn. Plus it was something they had in common and he hoped with this he could get a bit more friendly terms with her.

"Not bad your wind chakra is a little rough around the edges but with time and training that should work itself out. Although I'd put that wind armor of yours on the back burner until you're ready to use it."

Naruto pouted at that, "Isn't there a way to improve on it?"

"Not right away," She told him, "You can't force something like this it takes time to master. I can only think of three people off hand that even could pull that move off and I'm wondering how you even got it."

"My Dad got it."

"Ah," That explained a few things to her given that Kakashi Hatake most likely copied it from somewhere.

"I really wanted to learn it soon though," Naruto sighed.

Temari rolled her eyes, "Why are you in such a hurry? Don't you already got a wind technique and other techniques? Hell you got both shadow clones and those exploding ones, I hear they are still rebuilding from the last time you used it in the exams."

"That was to save the Old Man!" Naruto really hated how everyone kept brining up blowing up part of the stadium. It wasn't like there was anything else he could have done or anyone else could have done with that barrier put up. "But I wanted to learn more because I wanted to catch up to my dad."

Temari blinked at him, "Isn't he supposed to know a thousand jutsus?"

"Yeah which means I got a lot of catching up to do before I become Hokage."

Temari really didn't have anything to say about that she was at a loss for words not sure what was a more insane goal for himself. Trying to catch up to Kakashi Hatake or trying to become Hokage both goals weren't exactly the easiest to get to but the way he looked and sounded he really meant it. In the end she just shrugged it off if he wanted to try and go for it then she wasn't going to say anything.

Besides this afternoon showed that maybe he wasn't all bad after all.

**-Village, Next Day-**

The ninja group had arrived in the town that they felt that Jiraiya was supposed to be in. It was a decent sized place although they had spent the last few hours looking around for the usual spots that Jiraiya would usually hang out with. They soon found themselves outside of a hostess bar the bright paint and colors not to mention showing the images of women on posters out front you could hardly miss it.

"So...whose going in to see if he's in there?" Kankuro asked looking at others in the group. He noticed Naruto shift slightly as he was a little worried that Temari might still hold something about what he did by bringing Gaara into such a place. He had just finally managed to get the older girl to be on better terms with him.

"Well I supposed I'll have to since I'm the adult here," Kakashi sighed with his hands in his pockets.

Naruto chuckled at that, "I would have thought you would like something like this dad, or are you afraid that Aunt Anko will find out?"

Kakashi gave his son a sideways glance, "most likely differently than Hinata would if she found out what you and Gaara went to."

Naruto paled at that and nodded the little game he was playing just got turned around on him in a big way. Although it was for the mission he really didn't want to explain this part to Hinata if just because he didn't want her to think he went to places like this all the time even when he was dating her. Besides he was just making a joke it's not like he was going to tell Anko anything like that.

However Kakashi apparently didn't need to go in as the door slammed open as a big man in red with long spiky white hair came out looking slightly drunk with a woman way too young for his age wrapped around his arm. She was giggling about everything he said it seemed and he looked like he had been enjoying himself.

"Well that was easy," Naruto muttered at the sight.

"If it had been easy we would have found him in the first village," Sasuke commented dryly he was just glad that they had finally tracked him down.

"Okay you got a point," Naruto told him before taking a deep breath and yelled out. "Hey Ero-sennin I thought you liked older women who were blonde?"

Jiraiya for his part had been slightly enjoying himself before that yell broke him out of his thoughts on if he could get the girl back to his hotel room. He looked to where that familiar voice was with a slight glare there was only one person in the entire universe that would call him that and there he was. The little blonde boy with the mask on his face waving over to him, Jiraiya also noticed the others there as well.

The entire team was there with Kakashi as well as three other young ninja most likely from Suna if he remembered right. He sighed knowing that it was business time and he couldn't 'play' anymore.

"Sorry my dear but looks like I have to go back to work now." He told the woman taking his arm away from her.

"Awww do you really have to go?" She cooed at him.

"Sorry maybe another time," He grinned at her as he walked over to the group and placed his hands on his hips as he stood before them. "You couldn't find me just one more day later?"

"It took us long enough to find you as is," Kakashi told him. "You couldn't leave some kind of messages or way to contact you?"

Jiraiya only laughed, "I wouldn't be much of a spy master if I was easy to track down but I knew that Tsunade would send someone that could track me down eventually. So you're all here about my last report I sent in I take it, well we can't talk here out in the open. I got a room we can use in a hotel I'm staying at."

With that he lead them through the town eventually going to his hotel, it was a simple one that served his purposes as he led them all into his single room. It was a tight fit but they made it work he sat down on the ground as he dug through this things. Pulling out a scroll he opened it up onto the ground showing everyone a map of the county they there in. It was written in ink with marks and notes all over it.

"Ever since Orochimaru escaped I've put my contacts into find him." Jiraiya explained to them. "Took some time but after I got back from getting Tsunade to the village to lead it." He was interrupted by Naruto coughing. "Okay fine with help after getting Tsunade home I got a message from one of my contacts in this nation."

"Sound ninja have been sighted lot in his country which makes sense as it's a country without an official ninja village also after some digging I think the local lord is in his pocket. The man has gotten a hold of some extra income and certain enemies of his have disappeared the kind of disappearance that only a ninja could pull off."

"So he's set up shop here?" Kakashi asked.

Jiraiya shrugged. "Not sure even with all that, he's always been a slippery one and too damn smart to show his hand openly. At the very least he does have a presence here and we need to confirm if this is just some kind of outpost or secret base or if the Sound Village is really located here."

"If it's not the village then what is the plan?" Temari asked him knowing that both their villages planned to decimate the Sound Village for what they had done. If they confirmed the actually village then they would unit and crush it to dust. She knew that the smaller villages might see it as larger villages bullying around the smaller ones but Sound had attacked the Leaf and betrayed Suna both villages were in their right for revenge as the larger villages would see it.

Jiraiya had thought about it, "If it's just a small base we take it out there might be something there we can use which is why I wanted a team from both villages. This way Suna will learn everything we learn as we learn it. Plus I figured they would want a chance at some payback of their own although I didn't expect them to send you three."

"It was our father that was killed by Suna," Temari told them although she and her siblings would admit that their father had been more focus on being a leader than as a father. But despite everything he was their blood and he had been killed by Orochimaru. The fact that he had also fooled them and their entire village was also another sting they felt.

Jiraiya didn't say a word as he just nodded as he went back to the map. He pressed a finger into a large circle on the map.

"I've narrowed it down to this area."

"That's kind of a large area," Sasuke commented seeing it and if the map was to scale.

"To make matters worse the area is also a forest area," Jiraiya told him. "That means that there's plenty of places to hide in there. Not only that but it gives good cover for ninjas who want to move around hidden from view."

He leaned back stretching out, "All in all it's going to be a pain."

"Well at least we have an idea of where they might be in a whole country, that's something right?" Sakura asked trying to find the silver lining in all of this.

"Maybe so," Kakashi shrugged but it was still a big area. "Anyways you all get supplies we're going to need to stock up before we head on out."

Jiraiya sighed, "Well it was a nice break but I guess it's time to get back to work, Kakashi can I talk to you for a moment?"

Kakashi gave him a questioning look before nodding and sent the others off. When they were gone he closed the door behind them as he knew Jiraiya wanted to talk to him alone about something important but didn't want the others to hear. He sat down across from the old man as he rolled up his scroll and put it into a small sack.

"Something wrong?" Kakashi asked.

Jiraiya nodded, "Yeah a couple of things. First were you followed?"

Kakashi nodded, "I picked up a few tails while looking for you. I wasn't sure who they worked for but two of them I spotted but they are being smart about it. They keep switching up the tails so I'm not sure about the others but I get the feeling that eyes have been on us for some time now."

"Yeah I had a feeling about that, I had to shake several people spying on me since I got into this country it's one the reasons I stayed to look around. When someone is very interested in what you're doing or where you are it's a good sign that either they're looking for the same thing you are or trying to make sure what they got hidden is going to stay hidden."

"So it's a good bet that Orochimaru might know we're already here." Kakashi didn't ask it like a question more of a statement but Jiraiya nodded anyway. That was unfortunate since that meant they could face some stiff opposition if they got too close. "What's the other thing you wanted to talk about?"

This Jiraiya got a bit more serious, "While working out here I also picked up a few more interesting details. I've heard that Akatsuki has been a bit more active lately since they had the balls to actually go into Konoha. I heard that they've started looking for specific ninja in all the major nations and even in the smaller ones."

Kakashi remembered what they had been looking for when he had faced Itachi and lost. If they were close by then not only was his son in danger but Gaara as well. This could complicate the mission if they ran into that group and the thing he hated was that they weren't even sure who made up this group. He had been given access to the reports Jiraiya had made of this group given that Naruto was his son, but there was still too little information to know what could be coming.

Jiraiya could see the man across from him was deep in thought and it wasn't hard to know what it was that was keeping his mind occupied. He didn't envy the man, he had taken on Minato's son and Jiraiya had to admit that the man had been a great father for the boy. But he had also inherited many powerful enemies that would see harm to the boy. Not that he thought Kakashi would shy away from protecting Naruto hell he knew the man would give his life for the boy.

But this was a long hard road ahead of him to be a parent to such a boy but the thing was Naruto couldn't have his father protecting him all his life. Sooner or later the boy would have to grow up and stand on his own. The kid had talent but that talent needed to be forged into something that could become something really special.

Maybe it was time to have a talk with Kakashi about an idea of his that he had for Naruto.

While this was going on inside of the hotel outside of the hotel by a nearby building a single figure was standing in the shadows. He had been watching the hotel for some time now as he had been ordered to. He had been watching for the Leaf team to enter the village as one of Orochimaru's spies they all have been keeping a close eye on them but he hadn't expected to run into Jiraiya as well.

This was information that needed to get back to Orochimaru he would watch for an extra hour before reporting to his handler. He would than keep an eye on them and see what they were up to he quickly ducked back deeper into the shadows as he the six youths coming out. They were talking about something he couldn't hear from the distance away as they seemed to split up and move off in several different directions. He would wait for a moment to make sure they were well out of the area before slipping away to make his report.

**-In a previous Village-**

An old man was working his little book shop it was getting close to closing time and it had been a long day but at least he had decent sales for the day. Looking around the last customer had left thirty minutes ago, maybe he would close up early today he could use the rest. He was beginning to think of packing up when the door opened and two figures walked in.

He signed in annoyance he hated late customers as he always had to kick them out as they usually stayed too long. It was a long day so he never understood why some people waited until the last moment. He missed how one of them turned the sign on the door to from 'open' to 'close' as the other found some blinds by the window and pulled them down.

That got the old shopkeepers attention as he looked up, "hey don't touch that what the hell do you two think you're doing?"

He looked at the two tall figures they wore strange black coats with red cloud designs on them and wore large hats that hit their faces. They slowly came up to his counter and his anger slowly started to fade away as he started to worry now. The feeling he was getting off these two was making him very nervous now as he felt his throat go dry. One of the figures pushed up his hat just enough to get a look at part of a face.

The high collars on the coats hide the lower face but what he could see was what looked like a handsome young man with dark eyes but with two distinct lines below his face they weren't age lines more like some kind of facial feature. When he spoke it was in a deep and calm tone but there was nothing calming about his voice to the old man's ears.

"We were told a boy was in here, he was blonde most likely wearing a mask with orange markings on it." He said to him.

"I...I don't know what-" he was cut off by the other was the partner that hadn't spoke up suddenly grabbed him by his shirt.

"Don't pull that crap on us people saw him coming in here plus we found out he was headed this way." This man's voice was more gruff and threatening than the other man's.

"Kisame," The man said in warning.

"Itachi we can't keep screwing around with this guy," Kisame growled out still holding onto the man ready to go for the throat if the man even thought of yelling. Good thing he looked too scared to even try it. "We lost track of the brat when we left the Leaf Village and now that he's finally outside of it and we got on his trail again we can't let him get too far away again."

Itachi knew that after Konoha they had tried looking for Naruto even though they had found out he had been with Jiraiya looking for Tsunade of all people they had missed him. They had been a little too behind on the trail and by the time they had picked it up he had managed to get back to Konoha. That had been not only a disappointment but Kisame had been in a mood for a week after that.

So they had done a few jobs for the group that needed to be done after all they were an S Class criminal group that others hired when they didn't want to have any links back to them. But while on a mission they had been given a notice from their group that rumors about the Kyubi boy was outside of the village. They had been sent to investigate and here they were back on his trail and this time they didn't want to let him get away.

"I have an easier way of dealing with this," Itachi closed in on the man as he activated the sharingan. The three black tomes slowly started to move around as the old man's face suddenly went slack as his eyes went dead. It was a simple genjutsu that worked like hypnotism only much more powerful the weaker the mind the easier it was to get to the heart of the matter. It had been one of the reasons why the Uchiha police force had been so effective.

"Now listen to me was the boy we asked about here?" Itachi asked the old man.

"Yes," He said in a slow tone. "He was here with a red headed boy with a tattoo on his head and a tall blonde girl."

"Hey wasn't the one tail's host a kid with red hair and a tattoo?" Kisame asked remembering that description. They only knew of a few of the hosts so far but that description seemed to fit plus he remembered it as not many people had red hair and a tattoo on their head.

"What was the tattoo of?" Itachi asked wanting to be sure.

"It was a tattoo of the kanji for love," the man replied.

"Was that was the tattoo supposed to be?" Kisame asked Itachi to be sure.

Itachi nodded as that did fit what they knew all the teams were made aware of the other hosts just in case something like this happened. When another team ran across another target, they weren't supposed to actively go against targets by other teams were assigned. But this might be an opportunity to get both hosts for tailed beasts.

"If both are here and we get them it will piss off Sasori and Deidra," Kisame grinned showing his shark teeth.

"I care more about taking the Tailed Beasts," Itachi coldly said as he turned away. "We're closing in on them, if we hurry we should hopefully catch up to them."

"What about him?" Kisame asked nodded his head to the store keeper.

Itachi gave the man a silent look before turning his back and heading to the door. "Do what you think is best."

Kisame grinned like a shark as he reached up behind his shoulder for his sword.

**Next up Chapter 20: Snake in the Grass**


	20. Snake in the Grass

**Return of Naruto Hatake **

**Chapter 20: Snake in the Grass**

Orochimaru listened to the reports on the Leaf and Suna ninjas that had entered his area and that they had linked up with his old teammate Jiraiya. They were getting close to his current location but they seemed to be searching the area in a standard grid. It meant that they only had a rough idea of where this base might be. Still even if they found this base it wouldn't hinder his plans this was just one of many bases he had scattered around the known nations. He had spent years setting up his network of ninja and secret facilities after he had left his village.

There was another reason why he was eager for this group to get just a bit closer, the first being that the boy that contained the Kyuubi was here. The brat had cost him his revenge against the Hokage after he had actually blown up the building they had been fighting on. He had to admit that the tactic had been inventive and not something most would even think about. But the boy had to die because of that and also because it would get in the way of the plans of the Akatsuki. He had no love for that group after he had left and their plans he knew would get in the way of his plans. He wasn't sure what their ultimate goal was but he had a feeling it would be troubling for him.

So dealing with the boy would set that back but of course the main thing he was focused on was that Sasuke was getting closer. The boy would make for a great new body for him to use with the power of the sharingan he would learn more jutsu in a few years than he could in two decades. The knowledge and power he would obtain could make him the most powerful ninja in the world.

The tough part would be Jiraiya he would have to deal with him himself as he couldn't let anyone else because he knew full well the kind of ninja his old teammate was. He dismissed the messenger away with a wave of his hand as he looked to Kabuto standing there. He was a person that Orochimaru could always count on and looking at the young boy he could see that intelligent mind already working on the same problems as he was.

"I take it we will need the Sound Four?" Kabuto asked the snake sannin.

Orochimaru grinned just as he was thinking just that, he wanted to make sure that they learned when you hunt for snakes they can strike quickly without warning if you weren't careful. Another idea came to mind as well.

"How is Kimimaro holding up?" Orochimaru asked him.

Kabuto thought about it, "I've extended his life as far as I can but the next time I take him off life support he will live only for a day more maybe less if he pushes himself. If he stays where he is, maybe a few more months but eventually his body will fail him."

"Then perhaps it's time for him to go out in a blaze of glory, I want him woken up and assigned to kill the two jinchuriki that are in the group. I don't want those two to leave here alive no matter the cost," he stressed that last part out to him. "Tell him those words exactly."

"Yes Orochimaru-sama," he bowed.

"I'll deal with Jiraiya and hopefully Kakashi Hatake those two will be the most dangerous opponents." He continued on. "I want you to prepare for Sasuke, his seal will need to be grown to the second phase as soon as we retrieve him, weather he wants to come or not."

"You think that he'll turn down the offer for power?"

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, "My spies that are still in the village have said that his behaviour hasn't changed much. Strange how I felt that the offer for power would be too tempting for him to give up but something must have interfered with my calculations. It's no matter, he got away before but not this time, have the Sound Four make the offer but if he refuses they are to take him alive."

"Damages?" He asked him.

"As long as his eyes are unharmed I can fix anything else wrong with his body," The Snake Sannin spoke. "Now let us prepare for our guests."

**-3 Hours later, 2 Miles away-**

"Man this is boring," Naruto moaned as their group made their way through the thick forests. "Are you sure they're supposed to be in here."

"For the last time yes!" Jiraiya looked to Kakashi. "How do you get him to stop asking that?"

Kakashi just shrugged, "I've learned to tune it out plus it helps to keep him busy."

"Some father you are," Jiraiya grumbled as he ran his hand through his long white hair. This was one of the reasons he didn't like to work with kids he had no experience in handling them and a hyperactive one like Naruto tried his patience sometimes. He would give the kid something to do if only there was something to do. At the moment they were making their way through the large forest that they were searching through.

So far there were no obvious signs of people being through here at least not in great numbers. They found no supply routes which any kind of large facility or small village would need. No secret signs for ninja coming home to show the way or anything else that he knew Orochimaru used before. For years he had been hunting down his old teammate so he had gotten pretty good at figuring out the signs of Orochimaru's presence in an area. He was starting to wonder if maybe his information might have been off, it was standard procedure to throw out false information here and there to muddy the waters, but no he was certain he got the right information.

Plus his gut was telling him they were on to something. He stopped at he pulled out a map of the area as everyone gathered around him. The map had drawings on it of a grid with a few X marks in a few areas that they had already searched.

"Alright I think if we stick to a search area next to each other we should be able to make this go quickly." He told them not voicing the thought that the longer they were here the more likely they would already be found if they weren't already. It was a risk but this was a search mission after all. "If you find anything get back to this point."

He pointed to an area on the map that was just in front of them. "Don't engage the enemy unless it's necessary. If they find you and know who you are you might have to deal with them to prevent them from sounding the alarm but if you're outnumbered or outclass then just run. Get to here and if you have to set off an explosion tag. It will alert the whole area but by that point it will be too late anyway and I'd rather we get everyone out alive if possible."

"Teams of two?" Kakashi asked although he had a pretty good idea of the answer.

Jiraiya nodded as he had thought of the teams awhile ago, "You and I will be going right down the middle and a little ahead, Sakura and Sasuke will take the left, Temari and Kankuro will take the right."

"Wait what about Gaara and me?" Naruto asked.

"You get to cover our asses in case they already have people circled around us coming up from behind." Jiraiya told him seriously.

Naruto wanted to protest but his dad told him the importance of certain formations and the rear guard was always important. He would have preferred to be up where the action would be but he nodded biting his tongue. He was a chunin now and he knew he had to start acting like one if he ever wanted to be Hokage. Didn't mean he had to like it of course but he would go with the plan as the only problem he had was that he was in the back.

With that settled the teams moved out to start their search.

**-Temari and Kankuro-**

The two siblings had been searching the forest area for some time now but so far there was no luck in finding any kind of clue, sign or even running into any enemy forces for about an hour since they started. They kept to the tree branches to have the high ground while doing their searching. They took a moment to stop on one of the larger branches.

"That old guy sure that we've got the right area?" Kankuro asked his older sister.

"He's one of the most legendary ninja still alive," Temari told him. "If he thinks they are here it's a good chance they are...even if he is a major pervert." She said the last part dryly.

Kankuro smirked at that, "You think it was a good idea to leave Gaara alone back there? We've always had to keep an eye on him and you know that he doesn't work well with others."

They had always worked together mainly because no one else would work with Gaara and the few times their team had worked with others there might have been a few 'friendly fire' accidents. Gaara had been extremely hard to work with even on the best of days.

Temari knew full well what her brother was talking about. ""I know but that Naruto guy seems to actually get along with him. In fact Gaara has been pretty different since the Leaf and I know he had some kind of talk with Naruto before we left."

She had no idea what those two had talked about but after it Gaara had been different. But whatever the reason her youngest brother had been a lot better these days. She was about to say something else when she froze, she cast a quick look to Kankuro as he was eying the area too. Something was off as their instincts were telling them that something was wrong. Temari didn't see anything but she listened carefully and that was when she noticed it.

When in the forest there usually were some kind of animal life, normally birds but they were all silent. Something was scaring them off as she gently reached for her fan behind her back. That was when she heard the familiar whistle of a kunai being thrown at them. She turned her back to take the weapon on the metal of her fan. It was a risky move but she pulled it off as the kunai bounced harmlessly off her giant fan.

Both young Sand ninja jumped down onto the ground back to back as they tried to find their enemies.

"Well looks like these two might been a little skilled after all," a voice from the trees called out. "I was sure the blonde wasn't going to dodge that."

"The other guy doesn't look like much though," A deeper male voice spoke.

"Big talk coming from guys hiding in the trees." Kankuro yelled out around them as he readied the chakra strings to one of the puppets he had wrapped around his back. He had brought two of his puppets for this mission as well as a couple hidden in a scroll he had packed away.

"What do you say we go introduce ourselves before we kill them?" One of the voices asked.

"I don't mind they should know the faces of the ones that kill them," the other voice said. After that two figures came out of hiding one was in a tree the other came out from behind a large trunk.

One of pair that came out was a pale looking teen about Temari's age with long light blue hair. Temari noticed something odd about him as there was something sticking out of the back of his neck but she couldn't get a good look at it from her angle.

The other was a darker skinned teen only a little younger but had dark hair tied up back but what was really noticeable about him was that for some reason he had a total of six arms. She wasn't sure if that was the result of a kekkei genkai or some kind of experimentation by Orochimaru. She had heard the rumors about the twisted things he had been guilty of which was why he was a rogue ninja of the Leaf.

"The name is Kidomaru," the multi-armed boy spoke up girl with a grin plastered on his face.

"I'm Sakon leader of the Sound Four," The other boy told them. "We've been ordered to kill you by Lord Orochimaru."

"Okay looks like the old guy was right," Kankuro said seeing that they had finally found something although they were told not to get seen it looks like their group had already been targeted. It also looked like they weren't going to get out of this without a fight.

**-Kakashi and Jiraiya-**

The two seasoned ninja of the group had moved on ahead as Jiraiya scanned the area. If Orochimaru did have a base or something in this area then it would lead to it. But there was no major traffic signs and to him that was disappointing. That most likely meant that it wasn't a major base in this nation, which confirmed that this wasn't where the main Sound Village was. That worried him because that most likely meant that Orochimaru was keeping his village extremely secret or it was split up.

He knew how his old team mate thought and Orochimaru was very scary given how smart he was. He doubted that the man would do anything simple with a whole village under his command which was a scary enough thought for him as it was. Although now that the world knew that the Sound village was run by a rogue ninja and was wanted by two of the great nations it would stand to reason that the village wouldn't be easy to find. Plus given Orochimaru's reputation he wouldn't be surprised if the village was filled with all kinds of ninja that he seduced, those that wanted power, or were already in trouble with their village and needed a way out.

Jiraiya and Kakashi were in mid jump when suddenly several large snakes were summoned out of thin air and attacked them. The snakes were massive in size nearly the same size as the one that Naruto had met in the Forest of Death. Both Leaf ninja nearly were bitten in half by the large reptiles. Jiraiya saw one of them coming for him and managed a kick to the snout that he used to lunch himself higher up.

Kakashi used a palm strike to achieve the same effect as both were in air their hand seals were quick as both used fire techniques to burn the summoned animals. The fire engulfed their enemies as the snakes cried out before disappearing going back to where they had come from. Both ninja landed although Jiraiya sure felt the impact in his knees, he hated getting old as he slowly got up looking around.

"Alright come on out Orochimaru," he spoke out knowing that only one person could have summoned snakes of that size. Both waited but he heard that tell tale laugh of Orochimaru as the man seemed to emerge right out of the trunk of a tree.

"I see old age hasn't slowed down your reflexes 'old friend', as my little welcoming gift showed me that. So what do I take this visit? I doubt you were just in the neighbourhood and just wanted to catch up on old times." He grinned at his old friend and enemy. Although he was showing confidence he never underestimated Jiraiya there were only a handful of people that could keep up with him and he was one of them.

But he did have the advantage, where Jiraiya was an old man now and not in his prime, Orochimaru's technique to put himself into younger bodies kept him young and strong. If things got out of hand he would just have to wear the old man down and then strike him down once and for all. He cast his look to Kakashi making it look like he hadn't noticed him there.

"Ah Kakashi Hatake we meet again, sorry I didn't see you over there, do you plan on joining this fight or will you just stand there like the last time we met?" He chuckled remembering how the man had been so impotent to do anything as he met with him during the Chunin Exams after he had put that simple counter seal on the curse mark.

"You honestly thought that the Leaf of Sand would just let you go without trying to make you answer for what you did?" Jiraiya asked him. "You've turned the power of two whole villages against you."

Orochimaru only shrugged it off, "A small price to pay although I have to admit that boy messed up my plan to kill that old fool." He turned to Kakashi, "I sent a very special ninja of mine to deal with him and that other jinchuriki boy from Suna."

Kakashi stiffened and part of him wanted to go but he knew he couldn't, he couldn't turn his back to the enemy especially not a deadly one like this. Besides he had faith in Naruto, he had an ability to find unique ways out of trouble of course he also had the ability to get into a lot of trouble as well. He just hoped that Naruto would be able to pull off another victory. Last time Kakashi knew he wouldn't have been able to do anything against Orochimaru but with Jiraiya here there was a chance that he could try something.

It was something he didn't use because of the danger of it, he had figured it out by accident years ago and just using it once had put him into the hospital with chakra exhaustion in a fight that was suicide and it took time to do. Kakashi pulled up his headband to expose the sharingan eye he would need every advantage he needed in this fight.

"So ready to fight and die huh, well no matter," Orochimaru paid him no mind as he locked eyes with Jiraiya. "So then old friend shall we see how much age has dulled your skills?"

"You might be surprised to find that age has sharpened a few of my skills," the Toad Sage told him confidently.

**-Sakura and Sasuke-**

Sakura was making a mental note of how far they were as well as a count of how long they had been away. By her calculations if everything was going smoothly they should all be about equal distance apart. She was also scanning the area for anything that could be a clue but so far nothing. The two of them were silent but it wasn't an awkward one, before she would be all awkward around him when they were alone in the past, maybe because she had been always trying to get him to notice her.

Now though when she stopped trying too hard things had improved plus she remembered those lessons about boys from Anko, those helped. So instead of trying so hard she went the opposite way and tried to lure him in by being more professional and showing she was a strong female ninja. Apparently it was working as she noticed little times when Sasuke cast little looks her way. On the outside she showed no reaction but her inner self was almost doing cartwheels.

If she kept this up she could just get him to ask her out for once.

They paused for a moment together as they both took a small sip of water from a small canteen in one of their pouches. Sasuke looked around and although there was no reason for it he felt this odd sensation. It was almost like he could feel a presence near them as his hand went to rub the curses seal on his neck. The counter-seal on it kept it dormant as long as Sasuke's will made it like that but every now and again he could almost feel something from it. Now however he felt something like a small tug from it.

He wasn't sure if it was in his mind or maybe he should take it as a warning. He listened intently to the forest around them and something did seem off. It was a little too quiet and he suddenly felt like they weren't alone. He gently tapped Sakura twice on her arm, she looked at him with a question on her face but saw his reaction. She instantly figured out that he sensed trouble in the area as one of her hands towards a set of tools on her new vest.

Sasuke slowly went to where he kept a kunai and in a quick and fluid movement he turned and flung the weapon towards where he sensed the danger. He saw the blade go into the branches of a tree as two figures jumped out and landed onto the ground. It was a boy and a girl in clothing they remembered was very similar to the Sound ninja.

The girl among them had long red spiky hair, the other was a very large boy that put Choji to shame from his size and not all of it was fat either. He had darker skin with some orange hair.

"Looks like we were found out," Sakura commented, "do you think the others are too?"

"They might be," Sasuke stared hard at the two ninja.

"I don't see why he wants the boy," the large Sound ninja spoke up cranking his neck in preparations for the fight. "He doesn't look like much to me."

"It doesn't matter," The girl said annoyed, "Orochimaru wants him alive so we're to take him alive just be sure not to damage him too much. The girl we can kill I don't think he'll care about her."

"That's a girl? She's so flat I thought she was a boy with a strange hair color," the large boy joked at Sakura's expense.

Sakura for her part had an anger tick forming as her eyes were glaring bloody murder at him. Although she didn't say anything Inner Sakura was having a field day cursing him out like a sailor. It took every shred of self control she had to not repeat all that out loud.

'_**Kill that fat bastard!'**_ Inner Sakura yelled out finally in her mind._** 'Make him pay for insulting us, Shannaro!**_

Sasuke could feel just how angry Sakura was and knew that she shouldn't go into a fight angry like that or else she would make a mistake. Plus the big guy looked to be stronger and although he respected how far Sakura had come so far as a ninja, he was still stronger than her.

"I'll take the big guy, Sakura I want you to take on the girl," he told her and jumped down from their position and was already walking towards his chosen opponent before Sakura could have any kind of protest. She gave an annoyed huff but joined him on the ground to face the red headed girl opposite her.

The girl looked Sakura over but didn't seem to think much of the pink haired girl. "Tell you what you just lay down and die and I'll make it quick."

Sakura glared at the girl and decided to play a girl card at the moment she made a big deal of looking over her clothing. "That outfit really makes you look fat you know that?"

"What did you say you little bitch!?" She snarled at her. "My name if Tayuya and just for that I'm going to carve my name into that large forehead of yours!"

Sasuke heard that and winced, he knew that Sakura had a thing about her forehead and judging by the killing intent from her he was rethinking his choice f enemies. Both girls looked ready to tear into each other at the drop of a hat. But he had his own problem to deal with as he looked up at the big guy in front of him.

"The name is Jirobo but we already know who you are Sasuke Uchiha," he told him uncrossing his arms. "I'm going to give you this one chance, come with us or else I'll break your body and take you back as a ragdoll."

Sasuke didn't even waste a moment before he gave his answer, "Here's my counter offer." With that he rushed forward pulling his sword out as he launched his first attack.

**-Naruto and Gaara-**

Naruto signed as he looked around for the tenth time in their area. They had stopped at the moment to check every now and again to see if they were being followed or someone was coming up behind them. Gaara had those strange sand eye things spread out as Naruto also had a few of his shadow clones. They were supposed to be quiet and stay out of sight and as soon as something was to come up then they were to dispel and warn him.

So far nothing was going on and he was starting to get bored. Gaara wasn't much of a conversationalist either. The red haired boy was as quiet as ever but at least he wasn't giving off that creepy vibe like he had when he first met the boy. In fact he kind of seemed to have mellowed out slightly, well it was slightly the boy still was kind of rigid and you couldn't really tell what he was thinking.

"So...how have things been for you since the exams?" Naruto asked trying to break the silence with anything.

Gaara was silent a moment before actually saying something, "The villagers still fear me."

Naruto felt sympathy for him about that, even though he was the adopted son of Kakashi it had taken time for the villagers to warm up to him. Although after it was known he helped save the Hokage he noticed a lot less of the people who used to give him cold looks.

"Well trust me it takes time," He tried to offer him some advice on the matter. "You can't expect people to suddenly change how they view you. You just have to keep at it and don't ever stop, a lot of people didn't like me because I got that Fox inside of me but lately things have been better. One day you'll prove yourself to everyone you just got to keep at it. I plan to get the entire village behind me when I become Hokage."

Gaara thought about it and nodded his head as it made some sense to him. He had spent years terrorizing the village it would take time for them to see that he was trying to be different now. He found that he didn't have to be alone anymore, that he didn't have to 'love himself' because no one else would. In the time he had left the village he had tried to repair his relationship with his siblings and found that he did have others that cared for him.

Even if he had to do it one person at a time in that moment Gaara felt that he would show the village who he was, that he wasn't the monster he had been but a true ninja of the Sand.

Naruto suddenly jerked as a clone had been taken out. At first he thought maybe the clone had tripped or something but there had been a slight feeling of pain and shock as he tried to remember the sensation but when a clone dispelled the final sensations were always hard to remember. Then suddenly another one was gone and a third followed.

"Crap we got company," Naruto looked around but he wasn't sure which clones had been taken out. They had been 'killed' way too fast plus there were no markers in the forest to tell which direction those clones went before being taken out.

Gaara closed his eyes as he tried to use those eyes made of sand to try and find whoever it might be but one of them was suddenly destroyed. Unlike Naruto, Gaara knew where his sand was at all times. He cast his eyes to where the enemy was coming.

"That way," Gaara pointed out the location to Naruto.

Both ninja waited to see who was going to show up, it was a tensed moment until someone walked out of the forest in front of them. He looked at them with a neutral expression as he walked out with no fear. What they didn't know was that a man who knew he was going to die and accepted it, didn't fear much after that.

The teen that walked out looked to be a little older than the two of them and wearing Sound ninja clothing. They could see that he had white hair and pale features. They also noticed that he had two red spots painted on his forehead with matching color painted around his eyes. There was also this strange symbol just below his neck line, three little curved lines pointing to an imaginary center.

"My name is Kimimaro," The young man spoke to them showing no emotion on his face. "I'm sorry but you both have to die."

There was a pause before Naruto yelled back at the teen, "Oh yeah? Well I say like hell you are, there are two of us and only one of you so what do you say about that?"

Kimimaro only responded by growing bones out of his skin as he thrust his arms out and a dozen small but very sharp bones flew out at them. Gaara stood his ground on the branch they shared making a sand wall to block the attack while Naruto yelped and fell back, he was able to grab the branch before pulling himself up as the improvised weapons flew over his head.

Gaara looked down at Naruto but said nothing but his look spoke volumes.

"Okay how was I supposed to know he had some kind of freaky power," Naruto muttered getting up and then glaring at the red head and yelled. "And why didn't you make one of those sand wall things for me too?"

"Sorry, not used to protecting others," Gaara told him.

For a moment Naruto wasn't sure if Gaara was being honest or had just insulted him, it was really hard to tell with the boy as his face was always so impassive.

"We're going to have to have a talk after this about teamwork," Naruto told him.

"Dodge."

"What do you me-aahhhh!" Naruto just managed to dodge the next attack.

"You really shouldn't take your focus off an enemy like that."

"Not helping!" Naruto yelled out as he jumped to the ground and pulled the short sword from his back. "Alright let's see what this guy is made of!"

**-Nearby-**

Two clocked figures had been walking through the forests for twenty minutes now they had been following the slight trail of their quarry for most of the day. The forests were filled with the sounds of birds or other animals, the smells of the trees and plants filled the air. For normal people this might have been a pleasant day to walk through nature but these two were on a mission.

One of them knelt down to look at the tracks in the ground. "They split up here."

The larger one grunted, "So which ones do we go with?"

The partner looked at the ground, the larger prints were the adults so they didn't need to deal with them, one set looked to be an older pair, still young but both carrying something large given the depths their foot prints showed. The other sets were the smallest of them all so it was one of those two.

He pointed it out to his larger partner, "You take that set that it ahead of us, I think they are the rearguard, I'll take the other ones that looked to be flanking that way."

"And if you're wrong?"

He just shrugged, "Then deal with them and find me and we'll see if we can't track down our targets."

His partner grinned showing his shark like teeth. "About time we had some fun given how long it's taken to catch up to them. Plus my sword could use something to eat soon."

"Remember we need our targets alive."

"I know, but they just have to be breathing right? The leader doesn't need them intact so if they're messed up but still alive that should be good."

The two figures split off to find their own targets into the large forest.

**Next up Chapter 21: The enemy of my enemy is my other enemy**

**I meant to start the fights but seeing as the chapter was already getting long with just the set up the fights will be in the next chapter. I also had a bit of writers block with this chapter so that's why it took me some time to get it done.**


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